


Rising from Ashes

by Aquaria



Series: Sweet obsessions [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alfred and Selina teaming up to save Bruce, Badass Bruce Wayne, Bruce and Jerome being inmates in Arkham, Bruce is 16, Consensual Underage Sex, Fighting, Jealousy, Jerome and Jeremiah getting obsessed with Bruce Wayne, Lee doesn't become a criminal and work again in Arkham instead, Manipulation, Multi, Possessive Jerome Valeska, Protective Bruce Wayne, Scheming, Sexualt Tension-Situation, Violence, What happened to Gordon?, unhealthy relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2020-10-06 14:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 54,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20508752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquaria/pseuds/Aquaria
Summary: Instead of trying to kill Bruce Wayne, Galavan has him accused of killing Jim Gordon. Bruce is locked in Arkham where he encounters a certain Jerome Valeska. A game of manipulation and seduction starts under the eye of Hugo Strange and while Jonathan Crane starts falling fro Bruce.Meanwhile, Jeremiah Valeska wants to unmask the truth, eager to have both his twin and Bruce out of jail. And what really happened to Jim Gordon?Au where Jerome and Jeremiah are only fake enemies and actually get along.Bruce is sixteen in that ficFirst chapter edited





	1. Power Play

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is basically a fanfic I had in my head for a while. Hope you'll enjoy it, was partly inspired by another called the Clown's Prince if my memory is good. Check it out if you like the idea of Bruce being locked in Arkham with Jerome.
> 
> Edit: I edited the first chapter, because I really thought the beggining wasn't very engaging, it was actually a mistake to start it like that. Tell, me if you think the beggining without Jerome and Jeremiah's conversation is better.

Learning Bruce Wayne had been arrested for murder was a huge surprise. The murder of Jim Gordon, nonetheless! Why? That was the biggest question. Even Jerome Valeska was curious.

The News had spoken of that many times, and he had followed the events from Arkham’s Common Room, where one TV had been set. Images of a security cam had show Bruce trying to stab Gordon, then the two fighting and finally the billionaire had knocked out poor Jimbo, making him fall in the river. Jim never got out, and his body still somewhere in the water Those images had been just delightful to watch!

But learning that Bruce Wayne had been judged mentally ill and would interned in Arkham…Now that was even better!

After all, it was partly because of Bruce that he had been arrested.

Some patients here were too disconnected with reality to actually understand who the new addition was, others didn’t care, and others just wanted to sink their teeth into a fresh new prey. When Bruce arrived, Jerome knew some of the predators here were impatient.

It was a clear winter morning with a blue sky when the kid stepped in. It was cold, but now that was quite usual in Arkham. He wondered how the kid would take that. Jerome looked at him and was pretty impressed at how he grew up…He was still lean and not as tall as he, but he didn’t look like a weak boy anymore. Bruce hadn’t noticed him and Jerome liked that. It gave him the feeling to be a hunter watching his prey.

He had spoken of him with Jeremiah during his brother’s last visit. Officially, Jeremiah was innocent of everything Jerome did. If only they knew…Jeremiah told him he wished Bruce Wayne wouldn’t be hurt. Well, that would be up to the little billionaire.

It was somehow satisfying to see him like that: in Arkham’s outfit, just like any of them. Here, he wouldn’t be the little prince of Gotham anymore, but another lost soul. And in this little hell-hole, Jerome was the boss, the Devil himself. He had gathered other patients around him, twisted their minds and wrapped them around his pinkie. That place was his playground, and he wondered how the boy would do now that he couldn’t run away or have the cops helping him.

Bruce just sat and read one of the rare books available around, Jerome smirked: oh, if he thought he could read nicely, he would be surprised! He saw Buddy, one of the biggest guys around and the most violent, approaching the teen. Buddy was pretty much under his thumb, Jerome could easily tell him to leave Bruce alone, but one the other hand…

Did Jeremiah really wanted him to protect Bruce Wayne? Because right now, he’d rather have fun watching that!

“You! That’s my fucking seat!”

Bruce gave him a confused look and the man suddenly grabbed him by the collar. A punch sound was heard. But unlike everyone thought, Bruce was the one who punched first. The teen gave him a hook and kicked him away. Buddy hardly backed away but it was enough for Bruce to get free.

“I don’t know what’s your problem, but you should stop that right now!”

_Oh no, Brucie, he’s just getting started._ Buddy roared and rushed toward Bruce who just dodged and hit his opponent. Buddy retaliated with a punch in the face, and Bruce yelped but blocked his next blow before giving him a kick in the stomach and tried to hit him in the throat. Buddy dodged though. Bruce looked at him with cold anger.

“Okay, you want troubles? You’ll get it!”

Everyone gathered around. Buddy was much more muscular and taller too, but hell! Bruce was swift like a cougar and more precise. He dodged a punch and elbowed the big man in the face before giving him a hard kick in the plexus; Buddy was bent in half and he coughed. One of his friends tried to attack Bruce but the teen elbowed him right in the nose before punching him hard, making him fall. Another tried to grab Bruce from behind. The boy sent his skull back, hitting his captor’s face and threw his above his head to grab the back of his aggressor’s shirt. He swiftly bent over, taking the guy off of his feet. The lunatic yelped as he fell head first toward the ground. He hit the ground with a crackling sound but Bruce was already fighting Buddy again, who tried to attack again.

He punched Bruce in the stomach but the boy took it and punched back right in the jaw. Then, he sent the side of his hand in the man’s neck. Jerome whistled at the ninja-like move while Bruce was punching again and finally kicked the back of Buddy’s calf. The man fell and Bruce gave him one last kick in the face.

The boy looked around while regaining his breathing, checking out no one was attacking again. The lunatics around were either gaping, or cheering, one was dully applauding. Bruce’s eyes fell on Jerome and his face twitched in anger. Jerome just applauded him. After all, three guys were down, one of them being one of the most violent of the asylum.

Bruce just went back to his seat and took his book again. He looked at Buddy and just declared loudly:

“Find another seat.”

People around either mocked the three down, or just walked away from Bruce, but no one dared to annoy the kid. Jerome just looked at him, and for the first time, he was unable to say anything. He had fought against the kid in the past, and yeah, Bruce had been able to beat him, but now, he was even stronger.

Did Jeremiah really wanted him to protect Bruce Wayne? Because he didn’t seem to need it!

**O o O**

Jerome had just observed him for some times. A few lunatics came to talk to him, and the kid replied politely, although he didn’t seem very interested in them. Another guy had tried to bother him, and Bruce had just kicked his ass too. Jerome actually liked to see him fight, there was something exhilarating in that. You could actually see the savage side of Bruce and it was…Actually enticing.

“Why are you watching him?” Asked one of his followers.

“I met him once, would you believe m if I told you he was actually living in the streets at a time?”

The guy just looked at him with a dumb face and he laughed. It was actually true. After he killed his mother, Jerome had escaped the cops (surely not thanks to Jeremiah, no!), and he had spread some…fun in the city. A cult had even started to gather around him!

Bruce was actually posing as a street kid at that time, Jerome still had no idea why. He hadn’t even recognized him, hell, why would he? He didn’t give a damn about the Waynes back then.

Their first encounter and fight had started in the streets. Bruce had seen him beating up some little punk, and like the goody-good shoes he was, he had jumped in to help. The kid had been able to beat him down and save the guy, and Jerome had been more than angry. That’s why he had pursued him through the streets, and hadn’t stopped even when Bruce was back in his rich little world. In fact, that’s what got him arrested.

Ah, the Horror Fair…He and his cultists had deprived the city of electricity and taken over a Fair. They had brought some citizens for fun, and he had even organized a great show with Bruce Wayne as the leading star! This should have been his perfect revenge! And it had been such a great night! But the kid had escaped, the cops had taken over. He had pursued the kid in the Mirror Maze, but Bruce had beaten him and left him on the ground. When he had gotten out, furious and trying to kill the kid, Jim Gordon had just shot him. A fucking bullet in the shoulder!

Because of that, he had to stay in Arkham way longer than he should have. Jeremiah told him he couldn’t make him escape as long as he wasn’t fully healed. But at least, it had paid off. Jerome had gathered additional followers and sharpened his manipulation skills. And now that Bruce Wayne was here, he had new perspectives.

He should have been eager to hurt him again. But he was also very curious about him.

As the evening came, music passed through the speakers. They would do that from time to time, and Jerome was happy. This was good music; even though he would usually prefer Metal and Hardrock, or even circus music, Jerome enjoyed what they put here. It was pop music, but good one, sexy and melancholic, and not the cheap, slutty kind of sexy. He didn’t know it, but he liked it.

He was speaking to some of his guys, playing with their minds, ensuring himself of their loyalty, when he eventually looked around, searching for a distraction. He saw something that really caught his eye. Bruce Wayne wasn’t reading, he was pacing around, but not in a casual way. He was swaying a bit, at first, Jerome thought he was maybe not feeling well, but no. His serpentine moves were subtle and controlled, and…Kinda graceful but in a masculine way.

He was dancing…Not exactly dancing, just moving along the rythm.

Now, it was true the song was hypnotic, it wasn’t in English, it was maybe French; anyway the sultry voice of the female singer just called anyone to just let themselves get carried. Sensual, very sexy, melancholic, agonizing somehow, but in such a graceful way…But as good as the song was, it wasn’t what called his attention the most.

Weirdly, Jerome found himself looking at Bruce with some fascination. He had seen the boy scared, angry, defiant, but that…That was a Bruce he never saw, it was like something out of reality, he didn’t seem to give a damn about who was around; he was rolling his head gently while slowly swaying his body, his feet moving aimlessly.

A young woman started dancing, more clumsily, and went toward him. She wasn’t exactly pretty, but Bruce didn’t seem to care as he started to dance along with her. They were slow, gentle, and hell, Bruce was sensual. It was weird, but yeah, the brat was indeed…Attractive. Other people looked at them, there was something appealing emanating from them, but Jerome looked only at Bruce, something as hypnotic as the song could be felt. He was holding the girl, brushing her more than holding.

Jerome wanted to break this between them, to push the girl away and seize…What? He didn’t know but he needed to do something. He stood up and advanced toward them. But before he could reach them, the song ended, another one started. Bruce rolled his eyes and abandoned his dance partner who just kept dancing, a bit lost. Jerome followed him and saw him jumping and climbing like some feline on one of the window’s frame. Those were large enough to allow someone to sit comfortably. Of course, those had bars.

Bruce just sat nonchalantly and looked outside. Jerome reached him and stood by his side. The teen threw him a deadly look, but Jerome spoke before he could say anything:

“So, Bruce, didn’t know you were such a beautiful dancer!”

The teen narrowed his eyes and huffed in annoyance: “What’s the point of that comment?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t see how we could have any kind of interesting conversation with such a start.”

This baffled Jerome. “Actually I wanted to know whether or not you were high on drugs, but it seems like you’re very conscious of what you’re doing. That’s make it even more interesting.”

“What are you talking about?” Asked he with confusion and more annoyance. 

“You know, you dancing like that without giving a damn. Why did you stop?”

“I hate the song which came after. Why does it matter to you?”

Jerome smirked and titled his head: “I liked watching you.”

Bruce’s face irked a bit, making Jerome laugh. “What? Don’t tell me you didn’t know people would find that attractive.”

“I didn’t expect that from you. But well, good for you if you enjoyed it.”

“Do you know you danced with a prostitute? That girl is a sex addict, she whored herself out and she liked that. It must bother you to know you danced with that kind of low-life.”

Bruce shrugged: “I honestly don’t give a damn. Prostitutes bother you maybe?”

“Well, they kinda remind me of my slutty mother, to be fair.”

“But you hate her for much more than that.”

This made the redhead tense. “Surely, Brucie…But y’a know, she was indeed a slut, so calling her like that is no less right…”

Bruce shifted to fully face Jerome. “Your brother doesn’t seem to hate her. Maybe she wasn’t the bad one.”

This time, Jerome put both arms at either side of Bruce’s thighs, showing the boy he had no exit. Although he was a bit startled, the teen kept his cool. Jerome was expecting that.

“You know a lot of people would much rather get an electroshock session rather than speak to me like this about those things.”

“Those people didn’t beat you down, Jerome.”

A short silence settled between them and eventually, Bruce gently but firmly put his hand on the redhead’s chest and walked past him.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll talk to that girl…”

Jerome’s face twitched slightly. He grabbed Bruce’s arm and made him turn round. “That won’t be possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not allowing you.” Bruce’s confused face was actually arousing. “You’re mine, kid. Anyone who touches you will die.”


	2. Through the Cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go!

Arkham’s parlor wasn’t that crowded in general. Alfred preferred it like that anyway. He hoped Bruce would be fine, he received news from him yesterday, apparently, he had been into a fight. It was cold in here! Alfred shivered, but not so much because of the winter’s chilly air. He shivered because of this atmosphere. He had seen many horrible things as a soldier, and done atrocious things as well. But this…You could almost smell and taste the insanity. Maybe that was actually the smell of medicine and detergent, actually. To think his boy was in such a place! He would murder whoever made that happen!

He saw him arrive, in that white outfit with black strips. He went to him and hugged him although the guardians tried to stop him. Bruce returned the hug eagerly.

“Sir! You mustn’t get close to…”

“Try to stop me!”

He looked at Bruce’s face and saw a bruise on his jaw.

“Bloody hell, what happened to you?!”

Bruce huffed softly. “Come on, I got worse than that while training with you.”

“Sir! Let us follow the procedure or you’ll have to leave.”

Alfred reluctantly complied and looked as Bruce was handcuffed to a table. They sat face to face. Seeing handcuffs around his wrists…He really felt murderous wants. The teen perfectly knew that, he knew his guardians was boiling with anger.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” That wasn’t entirely true. Not only he was devastated by Jim’s death and his imprisonment, but he was also feeling…Queasy. He had a cough and he was shivering a bit. He hoped he wouldn’t get sick.

“Did that ass hurt you a lot?”

“No. And you should see him right now!”

Bruce said that with a quite proud expression and Alfred felt a bit relieved. It was good to know Bruce could fight back, and it was good to see he was still himself. He looked tired, though. He rubbed his hands together and Alfred took those. The warmth was comforting to the boy who remembered all the times Alfred hugged him or comforted him. He smothered a cough.

“Your lawyers are still working on your case, don’t worry, I’m not letting go either. Now the most important for you is to keep your head above the water.”

“I know…I’m just…Jim is dead and whoever did it is running free.”

Yes, there was that as well. He was so concerned about Bruce that he would sometimes forget how really tragic the cop’s death was in itself. He tightened his hold on Bruce’s hands.

“Listen, if it can make you feel better, consider it as another part of your training. Remember when you ran away with Miss Kyle? Well, I was furious at you, but now maybe it will prove useful: if you could survive the streets of Gotham, you can survive this.”

The teen nodded: “That’s what I thought as well…”

“But there is something troubling you, isn’t it?”

“Jerome Valeska is here. He didn’t try to hurt me, but he acted very weird yesterday. He basically said that…I’m his.”

Alfred’s eyes widened in stupor while Bruce went on: “It was in the common room. I was…I don’t know there was music and I started moving along a bit. A girl came to dance with me.”

“Really?” This seemed like a strange thing to do for Bruce, he liked music but he wouldn’t just loose himself dancing on it.

“Yeah, I was incredibly bored and I just wanted to forget a bit, to just let the music take me away. I know that wasn’t the best thing to do among lunatics but…”

“You needed to let go. It’s actually natural. However, be very careful around Jerome, okay? Who knows what he’ll try.”

Bruce bit his lip: “I thought about it all night. I think…I don’t know, I think he wants to scare me, to toy with me, to mess up with my mind.”

“Maybe. Whatever it is, don’t get caught in his trap…”

“Actually, I thought about trying to manipulate him too. That could be my training.”

“This is way too serious to play that kind of game.”

“You think I don’t know that? I know this is not a game, I’m locked here! But Jerome will try to hurt me! And…I have to find a way to survive.”

Alfred sighed. “Be careful, that’s all I ask. Don’t take any unnecessary risks. Also, remember: you mustn’t let them get into your mind. Be careful about what you say. When you’re starting to feel angry, count to three first in your head before speaking.

He approached a bit closer: “Also, key to manipulation is to let other people think we can give them what they want. If you have to manipulate Jerome, remember that. You mustn’t do anything without understanding him and what he wants.”

Alfred’s visit ended too soon at his taste. His guardian swore he would do everything to help before leaving, and though Bruce knew he meant it, nothing guaranteed Alfred’s success. He was pushed back in the Common room, and rubbed his arms. It was still cold in here, really! He coughed again. The atmosphere was a bit calmer than usual, maybe the doctors had forced more pills on the patients today, or maybe they were down because of the cold. He didn’t spot Jerome anywhere.

_When you’re angry, count to three in your head before answering anything. Key to manipulation is to let other people think we can give them what they want_. He would keep those advice in mind.

He spotted that girl with whom he danced yesterday, he wasn’t sure what her name was because she gave him three: at first she said it was Marina, then Stacy, then Carmen. But maybe he would have to get used to that kind of behavior here. She waved at him and he went to her. He’d rather have a few friends in here, being alone wouldn’t help. And she wasn’t unbearable to talk to. She coughed that morning, just like him.

“Are we dancing today?” Asked she eagerly.

“There is no music,” he casually told her.

“Oh…Would you rather have sex with me?”

Ah yeah, the sex-addict part…Not the most appealing one, but no one was perfect, especially here. “Hum, no, thanks.”

“Oh…I’m not pretty enough?” She coughed again.

“It’s not that, I just got out of a difficult relationship. And I don’t want to do that with someone I don’t know…”

“I see…You’re such a lovely dove!”

The compliment made him huff in slight amusement. “Remind me your name?”

“They called me different names…I think it’s Lolita.”

“Yesterday, you told me Marina…”

“Marina if you want!”

He could still ask the nurses or doctors for it. They continued to talk a bit, ‘Marina’ wasn’t always coherent, but it was okay. Then, he suddenly heard yells of pain. He looked in that direction and saw people gathering in a circle, people were fighting? He rushed there, and found his way through the crowd.

That was no fight but just bullying.

A big guy was straddling a young man, punching him and laughing. The guy stopped laughing and punching though when Bruce’s foot connected hard with his face. The guy jerked up and another kick was enough to make him fell down.

“Hey!” One of his friends was about to help him, and Bruce recognized one of the three guys who wanted to beat him yesterday. He narrowed his eyes and the lunatic froze.

“You want another round?! Get lost!”

He grabbed the young man by the arm and helped him to stand. The others just watched him and did nothing. Bruce helped the guy to walk out of the common room. The young man was gripping him tightly.

“We’re going to the nursery, come on.”

He took a look at the security guard who was on his phone, not even paying attention. He would have a talk with that asshole, for sure. “Hey, someone got beat up!”

“Yeah, well, go to the nursery.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and they continued.

“Thanks…”

Bruce almost missed that. The guy was trembling. He had brown hair, and was thin, very thin.

“You’re welcome. What’s your name?”

“Jonathan…Jonathan Crane.”

He heard footsteps behind them, Bruce looked back, fearing it was some of those guys but it was only Marina. She followed them, looking at Jonathan with curiosity.

“You’re bleeding. You’ll need ice, whenever I got punched, I would put ice and it would disappear,” she muttered and the coughed.

“The doctors will probably give him some.”

“You’re Bruce Wayne,” Jonathan said while biting his nails as they entered. “They spoke of you.”

“What did they say?”

“Well, you beat up that guy and you are pretty scary. Why did you help me?”

“You were getting beaten. Why wouldn’t I help you?”

Marina left the two to get a doctor while Bruce helped Jonathan to get on a bed. The latter looked at him as if he said something incredible, and Bruce guessed Jonathan had never been helped by anyone here. He had even stopped biting his nails.

“Some guys here want to hurt you. But maybe they won’t do it,” Jonathan said slowly, darting his eyes everywhere as if he was looking for a threat.

“Who? And why wouldn’t they do it?”

“Well…”

“Mr Wayne!”

The two looked up and Bruce froze as he saw Dr Strange. That man…He had been a friend of his father, but now Bruce strongly suspected him of having a role in his parents’ death. Still, he kept a poker face. He noticed how Jonathan hunched and seemed to curl up.

“Dr Strange?”

“I’m happy I get to see you, I heard there was an incident yesterday? A fight.”

“Yes. And one of your patients just got beaten a few minutes ago.”

As Strange looked at Jonathan, the young man just curled even more into a ball, as if he wanted to disappear. The doctor just smiled at Bruce: “We’ll make sure the culprit is punished. But I would still like to talk about yesterday’s fight.”

“It wasn’t him,” Marina suddenly spoke up, coming back with a nurse. “It was Buddy, he is mean…”

“Thank you, Miss,” he cut her off before looking at Bruce again. “We’ll still have to talk this afternoon. You’ll be at my office at 3 pm. I’m sure we’ll do great work together.”

Bruce just watched him leave silently. The nurse told him and Marina to leave, and instead of going back to the common room, Bruce found a deserted corridor where he could talk with the girl.

“Hey, what did they say about me, do you know?”

“Oh! Most of them were just amazed you could beat Buddy, I think. Jerome spoke of you too. He said he was excited to have you around. I think he wants you.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, he wants to sleep with you. He is pretty handsome, even if he is scary.”

Bruce gaped in shock but regained his senses soon. Marina was a sex-addict, she was probably wrongly interpreting. But it was true that Jerome’s words had sounded incredibly weird. _You’re mine…_But no, this was probably just a way to get into his head. One of the employees saw them and immediately threatened to call the security if they weren’t to return to the common room. Both teens obeyed.

Once they got in, Bruce started to cough. God, it was cold here! He remembered his time in the streets: he had been colder than that back then. He got his hand on another book. Marina was about to sit at his side when she suddenly ran away. He wondered why when he saw a bunch of guys coming toward him. He upraised his chin and stood his ground, no way he would show fear.

“You! You think you can do whatever you want!” A big bald man yelled.

“What is it with you? I took your sit as well?”

“You beat up my brother!”

He rushed toward Bruce and the teen just had the time to dodge and punched him when his arms where grabbed by behind. The bald guy smirked and giggled. Bruce tried to free himself but that wasn’t easy! The lunatic was about punch him in the stomach when another suddenly grabbed him and pulled him away before he could hit the teen.

“What…”

“He belongs to Jerome!”

“Fuck him, I don’t give a…”

“Woaw, what did I hear?”

Jerome’s voice made everyone freeze. The bald man was obviously scared and Bruce felt the hands holding him releasing their hold. Jerome grabbed the bald guy’s neck and gave him a threatening smirk. “So, what is it you said?”

“I didn’t mean to…”

Jerome punched him in the stomach hard and his followers started to take him away. Bruce gaped as he saw the guard among them, the same one who did nothing while Jonathan was getting beaten! He advanced toward Jerome:

“What are you gonna do to him?!”

“Me? Nothing! It’s only up to the security staff and the doctors to…”

Bruce cut off his mocking, hypocritical tone: “Oh, stop that!” He was about to go after them when Jerome caught him back and took him by the elbow, stopping him.

“Not even a ‘thank you’? I defended you here, I saved your ass!”

Bruce saw the group leaving the room and the guard locked the door behind them. He wouldn’t be able to do anything now. He turned to Jerome instead: “You did it to defend your pride.”

“Not entirely. You don’t seem to get it, but I mean it when I say I won’t let anyone touch you. And…” He pulled him closer, “I mean it when I say you’re mine.”

Freeing himself brutally, the ten huffed as if Jerome had said the silliest thing possible.

“I don’t know why you would want me to be ‘yours’, but that won’t happen anyway.”

“You’ll come around.”

“And why would you want me?”

The look Jerome gave him scared him. For a moment, he felt his courage leaving him. Jerome walked in circle around him, slowly and a shiver crept up Bruce’s back. “You’re handsome and you’re a savage.”

Shaking his head the teen could only reply: “You tried to kill me…”

“Can’t a guy change his mind? No one ever gave me so many difficulty as you did, and as much as it could annoy me, I must say the challenge is thrilling. And anyway, if you have a bit of brain, you’ll see you’d better stick with me.”

He passed an arm around Bruce’s shoulders.

“I guess you’re wondering why. Well, look around, some of those people aren’t dangerous, I’ll give you that. Hell, some will never dare to attack you. But as you saw, some others aren’t easy to impress. They will gather together like they just did right now, and they will take you down eventually. Will they only beat you? Kill you? Or…” He leaned closer and spoke into his ear: “Will they do something else? But I can protect you.”

Bruce turned to him with an angry and determined face which only delighted Jerome: “Do you seriously think you’re the first person trying to threaten me? Do you think they would be the first to attack me? No. I’m not easy to impress either.”

With that he pushed Jerome away and started to leave when he coughed hard again. He heard the redhead’s sinister laugh behind him:

“Be careful. Getting sick would weaken you.”

He just ignored him and walked away toward the nursery to see Jonathan again. Jerome just watched him with fascination. He could understand why Jeremiah was fond of him. His brother had told him he had approached Bruce Wayne after being hired to help on a scientific project. Jerome had thought it was stupid to take interest in that brat, but now he could understand Jeremiah. The teen was handsome, fierce, witty and brave. Jeremiah told him he was very smart, and Jerome supposed he was if he had managed to survive in the streets of Gotham. Why did Bruce Wayne wander in the streets, by the way? He forgot to ask. Whatever, he had all the time to do that.

**O o O**

“We can start slowly Mr Wayne,” Strange murmured. “We can simply start to know each other. Unless you have a subject you want to talk about in your mind.”

That was something Bruce didn’t want: letting Strange know him. Comfortably seated in his chair, Hugo was looking at Bruce who was sitting before him in another seat. The room was warmer than others and more comfortable, yet Bruce just wanted to leave. Jonathan had told him he was cruel and manipulative, and he had no trouble believing that. As far as he had seen, the way Arkham was handled spoke volume. He coughed.

“Do you do that with a lot of inmates?” Asked Bruce.

“What?”

“Taking them as personal patients.”

Strange readjusted his glasses. “I couldn’t, take many of them, even if I wanted to. My position as head of this establishment wouldn’t allow me. But it’s important for me to take care of a few, after all, I’ll always be a psychiatrist, and fascination for the human mind is definitely what got me where I am now.”

He seemed genuine, and somehow, Bruce believed he was.

“Why am I one of your chosen ones?”

Strange laughed at the term ‘chosen one’, it was a bit weird, but quite fitting actually. “Well, you probably know I was a friend of your parents, your father especially. I’m sure they would have wanted me to do my best to help you.”

_Yeah, and you killed them! Do you do that out of remorse or because it amuse you?!_ No, he wasn’t sure yet whether or not Strange participated to their murder. Count to three before answering.

“Do you want to talk about them?”

He was dying to ask questions but his guts were against it. This smelled like a trap. Bruce shook his head: “Maybe not now.”

Hugo’s smile deflated a bit and he seemed disappointed. This convinced Bruce that he was searching for something indeed.

“But I would like to talk about what happened this morning.” He winced as his head throbbed and he coughed again. “A patient got attacked and your staff did nothing…” Another cough.

“And how did that make you feel?”

Bruce was stunned: seriously?! Was that all he had to say? He was about to burst in anger but he remembered what Alfred told him. 1…2…3…

“Actually…I was wondering the same about you, doctor. How does the lack of your security makes you feel?”

Hugo’s smile was more crispate and anger was clear in his eyes.

“Let’s not reverse the roles, Bruce.”

He was avoiding giving an answer. A normal person would have simply promised to answer this problem. Bruce continued: “I was attacked again today. By three men.”

“You don’t look banged up, though. Although I know you can handle three opponents.”

“They would have been harder to beat, I think. But I got help.” He coughed: “From Jerome Valeska.”

All traces of anger disappeared from Strange’s face who almost beamed. Bruce wasn’t expecting. “Ah yes! Mr Valeska is one of my patients too! We had a session this morning, and he spoke only of you.”

“What did he say.”

“That’s confidential, I can’t reveal the exact content of what he told me.”

“He tried to kill me in the past, but you probably know that.”

“Of course, during the…How did the Newspaper call those? The Horror Fair events.”

“There was another time, during a Charity events organized by Wayne Enterprises. But he had been able to flee from the cops that time.”

“Ah yes. Apparently you’ve been very brave both times. Do you want to talk about that night, eventually? Maybe this is too soon to get to that subject?”

Bruce wasn’t sure. He had to give Strange a bone to chew, though. He had heard that patients who were too reluctant to speak could get electroshocks. Maybe that was a lie but he wasn’t sure.

“I know you fought off Jerome and you tried to stand up to him. That asks for a lot of courage.”

That was flattering, but Bruce remembered what his mother said once: Flattery is one of the best ways to blind people. He didn’t even remember when she said that, or to whom, but right now, it was as if she was speaking those words into his ear.

“Before speaking of that, there is something I wanted to know, you’re probably the only one who could answer: I heard psychopath are emotionless. Jerome had often been called a psychopath, but he doesn’t seem emotionless.”

“Well, that’s not all true. Psychopath can feel some emotions like rage or excitement. But it’s true that they will feel less strongly then regular people. What they can’t feel, or hardly depending on the degree of their psychopathy, is guilt or empathy. But, I’d rather use the term, anti-social behavior. You see, trying to put the human minds in well-defined categories is a mistake for me. Our brain and its disorder can have so many variations...In short, everything is possible with the human mind. For example, Jerome falls into the category of Anti-social Behavior Disorder, but trying to fit him with the classic definition of psychopath you’ll find in a random psychology book might be more difficult than you think.”

Now that was intriguing…Was Strange lying, though? He didn’t know, he would have to see it for himself.

“There are some books in Arkham, you know, you can borrow some. The book cart could contain some things you like. There are also a few in the Common room.”

“I know, I already spotted those. Thank you for the suggestion.” He would have loved to use one of those books to crush it against his stupid face, but aggressive stunts would lead him nowhere.

“Anytime. Do you want to speak of Jerome? I can fell you’re worried about his presence.”

Give him a bone to chew. They did speak of Jerome indeed, and of the night when Jerome and his followers had invaded a fair, and transformed all the activities into murderous traps. Jerome had been able to capture Bruce and wanted to kill him by tying to a pole and blowing a canon at him. They stopped when Bruce had a fit of coughing. Strange sent him to the nursery. The doctor in here just gave him aspirin and something for his throat before sending him back to his own room.

The next day when he woke up, his head felt incredibly heavy and sore, his throat was dry and hurting like hell! He was also covered in cold sweat. He wanted nothing but stay under the covers (even though those were hardly giving enough warmth), but the guards made them all get up to go in the common room for breakfast. As soon as he entered, Jonathan joined him and they sat together. Jonathan still had some bruises, and he was still nipping at his fingers.

“You’re okay?” Asked Bruce.

“Yeah, thanks. I was worried about you, did Strange hurt you?”

“No. You’re really afraid of him,” Bruce pointed out while trying to eat. He didn’t have much appetite.

“Everyone is, except maybe Jerome.” Crane had a nervous laugh. “It’s funny isn’t it? How fear works!”

“Can I ask you why you’re here?

Jonathan lowered his eyes and spoke of his father, of what he had done, and how he had given him some toxins which made him feel afraid and see things.

“I know this isn’t real, what I see. But I can’t help being afraid, it seems so real!”

“Wait…You aren’t a criminal? How is it you’re among all of us?” Bruce breathed in shock.

“They don’t care, they enjoy mixing all of us up…You…You killed a cop, am I right?”

“No. I was set up, I never killed Gordon, he was a friend. I know I’m not the first claiming my innocence, but it’s true.”

Jonathan frantically nodded: “I believe you.”

“Thing…There is that security cam which recorded that…I don’t know who it was, but that guy looked like me. He…He knocked Jim and pushed him into the river.”

It was painful to think of it. The images showed a Bruce look-alike who had tried to stab Gordon, but the cop had defended himself. He had been then knocked out, and thrown into the river. His corpse hadn’t been found yet, but there was no way he could have survived from that. A laugh was heard and both boys turned to see Jerome approaching; Jonathan cringed hunched, while Bruce sighed; His head throbbed, he was _really not_ in the mood for Jerome.

“What do you want?”

“Well, hello to you as well! They’re speaking of you on TV.”

“…I don’t care.”

Jerome just sat at Bruce’s side, and passed an arm around his back, drawing him closer while pressing his side. He stared at Jonathan with a little smirk, making the other boy look down again. Bruce grabbed his fingers and pulled his hand away. Jerome allowed him to do so and narrowed his eyes;

“You do care! You don’t want to hear what they say, that’s all. I understand, they always repeat the same thing: how shocking this is. Boring, really.”

Bruce clenched his fist and tried to remain cold-headed. He hated that Jerome could figure him out.

“You know, I’m grateful you killed him,” Jerome declared. “I wish I had killed him myself, but it’s not that important. I’m just happy someone took away that pest…”

“If someone should be called a pest, it’s you!” Bruce snapped. “And there was no way in hell you could have killed Jim Gordon,; do you hear me? You couldn’t even beat a fifteen year old.”

With that he walked away, furious. He just had the time to make a few steps when he felt even more pain. His feet felt lighter and nausea started to rise. An arm encircled his shoulders and he was relieved to see Jonathan. They went toward the nursery when Bruce suddenly jolted and went to the bathroom. He just had the time to reach the toilet before emptying his guts.

Oh God, this would be difficult.

**O o O**

That night, Bruce just did everything to try to sleep. The doctor had suggested he could stay in the nursery, but Bruce refused. He preferred his cell/room. It wasn’t any colder and at least he had a bit of privacy.

He shivered, his fever was getting worse and his wounds…Nothing bad, sure, but that and his disease were still draining him. He coughed and shivered, trying to rub his feet together, it seemed like those were made of ice. His medicine had made his body limp, which was weird. Why did the medicine they gave him made him so weak? Did they make an error? He had to be strong, though, this was hardship, and he had to face it. It could be worse…

He remembered the time he lived with Selina. Back then, he wanted to search for the guy who killed his parents, his little search from home hadn’t brought much. It was Lucius Fox who told him why it was so difficult: people had their eyes on Bruce Wayne. He was a rich boy, and whoever murdered his parents probably watched him. That and he was also way too naïve and inexperienced to truly understand Gotham. That was why he had left his home suddenly and disappeared from sight.

He had called himself Kyle back then and sometimes, he missed being him. He was poor but he didn’t have the public’s eye on him. And he was with Selina. He had been through a lot, he had understood what being hungry was like, what being cold was like. He had seen the violence, the boredom, the ignorance, the neglect and the fear. He had known danger, the lack of safety, and what it was like not to know where he would sleep at night, and even when they had a place, they weren’t really safe. He had seen how difficult life could be for some people, and how easy it was to take a wrong path.

Selina and he had lived together for a year and half, until he had to return to his previous life. Alfred had tried several times to convince him to go home, but he didn’t try to chase him through the streets. He knew letting people around know that Billionaire Bruce Wayne was wandering in the streets without any protection would have been more dangerous for Bruce than anything else.

Then, Bruce’s investigation and new knowledge of the underground world of the streets had allowed him to find the hired killer who murdered his parents: Malone. He still remembered the first time he saw him…

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts and though he didn’t mind at first, he realized it was coming toward him. He forced himself to open his eyes and saw someone sitting on his bed. Jerome! His mind was foggy but he forced himself to raise his bust slightly, leaning on his elbow. He felt a wave of cold while moving. He couldn’t clearly see the redhead’s face, but he recognized his frame.

“…Jerome? But…” His voice was weak, breathy and sickly.

“Missed me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review please!


	3. The Raven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah finally appears in this chapter! Creepy scene ahead for you!

“Missed me?”

Jerome was here…By his bed. Bruce closed his eyes tight as he felt a vertigo and pain spread through his skull. “What are…”

“Checking up on you.”

_Yeah, sure_. “More like getting your revenge…” He slumped down as headache intensified. “Go ahead.” He braced himself. The chuckle which followed gave him goose bumps, though. He didn’t know why it was doing that on him, it was just a laugh and yet…He almost wished Jerome would stop and just hit him instead. He felt fingers sweeping the cold sweat on his forehead, the gesture was weirdly gentle, and he heard a whistle.

“You do have a high fever indeed.”

The cover was raised and Bruce shivered, he grunted at Jerome to stop, but then he realized the redhead wasn’t taking those away. He was slipping under it at his side. He started to back away but an arm suddenly sneaked around his back and drew him toward Jerome again. That was the moment when he snapped: he knew what Jerome wanted! Marina had been right! He struggled and kicked and tried to push him, but the redhead embraced him strongly.

“Stop it! Stop! Let go, you perv!”

Jerome threw his weight over the boy, forcing him to lie on his back. Jerome crushed him under his own body and pinned both wrists at each sides of his head.

“Stop that right now!” He approached his face very closely and Bruce shut his mouth tightly but not his eyes.

“There is nothing you can do to stop me! You’re powerless!” He roared;

Bruce tensed and shivered. That voice…Was it the sickness which made this voice resonates in his head like a sick echo? Jerome was scary. Bruce hated being scared but he couldn’t help it. A little smirk adorned his captor’s lips and his body relaxed slightly over Bruce’s. The teen winced as he spoke again, in a calmer voice:

“I planned to be nice. Don’t make me change those plans.”

A sudden wave of pain hit Bruce and his face contorted. He stopped every move and Jerome took that occasion to put the covers back in place and to get even closer to him.

“Don’t try to fight, it’s useless, beside I’m not going to hurt you.”

Bruce’s ragged breathing was the only thing that could be heard for now. He adjusted his position, putting his feet against Bruce’s icy ones, and pressing their chests as much as possible.

“You’re not doing that for me…”

He had met the pervs and the pimps who would try to take advantage of lost and desperate kids. They had been Bruce and Selina’s biggest fear. But they never got him or his friend, so he wouldn’t let Jerome do that either! _Save your energy while he doesn’t try to do anything. Let him think you’re too exhausted_. But he really was exhausted. Even if he saved his energy, would he be able to stop him?

“I hate sleeping alone. You need warmth. We might as well work together.”

“But why…”

“You’re thinking too much, kid,” he murmured suavely, their lips close. “Just enjoy the warmth and rest, it’s the best way to keep yourself from getting sicker.”

Bruce didn’t say anything else, the fever making him feel sore again. He didn’t want to accept that, but he didn’t have the strength to fight and Jerome was really warm. And he was keeping his hands around his back, nowhere else. That heat was bit uncomfortable, and feeling Jerome’s breath on his skin was making him uneasy. But it wasn’t as bad as the cold. Still, what would Alfred say? What would Selina say? But did it matter? They weren’t here! He was, and he was alone! And what about Gordon? His parents? But they weren’t here anymore either…He felt a lump in his throat and tried to think of something else. He heard what sounded like a owl…He tried to picture one in his mind. He liked owls…He allowed his thoughts to drift, Jerome wasn’t moving, maybe he was sleeping already…

It was impossible to say when he fell asleep, but when he woke up the next morning, he was well-rested. His throat was very sore and he was still feeling dizzy, but he did sleep well. Arms were around him, holding him against a warm chest and he could feel someone’s cheek and jaw line against his own face.

Jerome!

Bruce stopped breathing at first. In fact, the way he held him seemed kinda…Protective. It was weird when he thought of his threatening words last night. “_There is nothing you can do to stop me! You’re powerless!_” “_I planned to be nice. Don’t make me change those plans.”_

He had told Alfred he wanted to try to manipulate him. And he still wanted to, there was no way he would run. But now he truly realized it would be dangerous. And…Could he really understand Jerome? What did he want? Why did he come to sleep with him? Why was he holding him like this? It was disturbing; really…He wasn’t used to that. He wasn’t used to be held like that. He tried to put some distance between them but when he succeeded, he realized he missed the warmth, the cold was bitter. Leaning against Jerome again was tempting, really, yet he kept that space. God, he was still sick.

_Why did he do that? Jerome can’t be in love with me…Of course not, you fool! He wants you to believe he is. That’s a game to him! He wants to wrap you around his pinkie. That’s what Silver did too. _Silver…Galavan had arranged for them to meet a few times ago, during a business meeting, and he had been…Really attracted to her. And Selina had rejected him, so maybe he had felt the need to move on and get some form of revenge. But then, he started feeling suspicious. He had seen many liars and manipulators and though he didn’t want to believe it, he started to become suspicious. So he reconciled with Selina and broke up with Silver, pretending ‘things wouldn’t work between them’.

After that, he had made sure to avoid Galavan and Silver, and tried to understand what the man wanted. During that time, he and Selina even started…Dating somehow. All that while trying to figure out what Theo was up to.

But Selina and he had an argument again, because of her greedy mother…If what they had before could be called a relationship, it was over. And a few days after that, he was accused of murder…

He sighed. He didn’t want to think of Selina right now, he had enough problems to focus on. One of those was actually holding him like a Teddy Bear. Yesterday, he had been given pills to take in the morning against the fever and the nausea. He also had to take those. He started to push away the redhead, when Jerome opened his eyes and growled. Bruce pulled himself out of his arms completely.

“You’re still here.”

He yawned and grumbled: “Well, did you think I’m the kind of guy who will run away after a great night?”

“Very funny. And honestly, I would categorize you as such,” Bruce stated while sitting up and rubbing his head. He was feeling fresher, but he wasn’t at his best yet. Jerome cackled at this before swiftly embracing the teen, pulling Bruce’s back against his own chest and firmly encircled him in his arms. He heard Bruce gasp at this and just put his chin on his shoulder. He was still feverish.

“Jerome?”

“Yes?”

“If you continue to pull that kind of stunts I’ll break your ribs.”

The redhead couldn’t help but gasp and then grinned. He should have expected that, but he couldn’t help but see Bruce in that billionaire brat image. He should stop forgetting that Bruce was also a savage. He still wasn’t struggling, though he wasn’t leaning against him either.

“I’d like to see you try. That would be exciting.”

The teen wanted to push him away, felt that it was his duty to do so, but on the other hand, he was curious: what would Jerome do? That was a side of him he never saw. Was it fake or genuine? Surely, the lunatic wasn’t in love with him and wanted something from him, but maybe Jerome was also enjoying this. After all, it wasn’t impossible, Jerome seemed like the kind of guys who wouldn’t force himself to do something they didn’t want, he wanted enjoyment and that was all.

_Manipulation is making people think you can give them what they want._

“Why are you hugging me, by the way?”

“Because I’m in love with you!”

“The real reason, please.”

Jerome whistled: “If you say ‘please’. Well…I don’t really know, I just wanted to do it. I’m curious, I guess, I’d like to know what it’s like to hug someone else than Jeremiah. And you’re attractive. So yeah, I’d say I’m curious to know what a hug with you feels like.”

“You had me in your arms all night.”

“It’s not the same, you slept through most of it and you were still overtaken with fever. I like to experience different kind of things. And even psychos like me need human touch from time to time.” Jerome sighed and closed his eyes, shifting a bit but keeping him in his arms. “And why aren’t you fighting? You could if you wanted. Is the fever stopping my little tiger?”

“Well, it’s so weird to see you like that. And when something absolutely unexpected happens, you’re often curious about it.”

“Or is it because you love me?”

This time, Bruce laughed; it was the first time he laughed in days. Jerome giggled along and looked at him with fascination. Bruce’s laughter didn’t last long.

“It’s the first time I hear you laugh! But you know, if you want more unexpected things to happen…”

Bruce elbowed him in the side and Jerome jumped in surprise, letting Bruce the chance to get out of his grasp. The boy swiftly did that and went to take the medicine he had been given. Jerome was still sitting on the bed, watching him with a little mischievous smile. Bruce rolled his eyes.

“Get away, I have to lay back, and I don’t need you around.”

“It’s a bit ungrateful after last night. Are you seriously going to stay in bed?”

“Yes, it’s called resting, it’s advised to do that whenever you get sick.”

Jerome sighed and finally got up. “Well, I guess very good things have an end. You’ll still have to come back to the Common Room at a point though. I’ll come back and visit you if you take too long.”

“Don’t.”

“Why? Do you feel threatened?”

“I don’t want you around,” he stated while getting back to bed.

Jerome titled his head and smiled even more hugely. “Well, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?”

“What do you want?”

“You! Isn’t it obvious? And you’ll want me too.”

He left before Bruce could answer. As he was alone, Bruce laid down. What the hell just happened? This was truly a crazy place! But if Jerome wanted him, he could use that. Why would Jerome want him? He had told him he was a challenge, that he was a savage…Whatever he was doing; Bruce had to continue to be a challenge. He had to give him that…And maybe he would…What? What was the point of that? He didn’t know yet, but getting on equal foot with one of the most powerful person here would probably be helpful. Not give him anything easy, but let him think he can get it…That he could do.

He had lived in the streets for months and months, getting to know manipulators, schemers and thugs from the most dangerous part of the city. Then, he had met Galavan and figured him and Silver out, two manipulators of high society. Yes, Jerome was wrong if he thought Bruce would fall into his hands. 

Galavan…He was pretty sure he was responsible for this. He had no proof sadly, and he didn’t know how he might have done it, but he was pretty sure he was involved somehow. But while being trapped here, there was no way he could do anything. That’s when it hit him: there was some purpose in manipulating Jerome maybe…Oh Lord, that was a dangerous and uncertain idea, though. But he could keep that idea in a corner of his mind.

Maybe it was more prudent to ask help to Jeremiah? He didn’t really want him involved, though, but his friend was smart, maybe he would have an idea? He remembered the shock he had felt seeing his face for the first time.

_“Mr Valeska?”_

_The redhead had turned to him and gaped slightly, and looked at him as if he was surprised. _

_“Oh! Mr Wayne! I’m…Yes, I’m Mr Valeska. Jeremiah.”_

_Bruce couldn’t help but grin a bit at that clumsiness. He had the same face than his brother, but his hair style, his nerdy look, and his shyness…They were really different. _

_“You’re only eighteen?”_

_“Hum, yes, but I…I have all the requirements to work here.”_

_“I don’t doubt you. You’re just the youngest person around after me.”_

_“How old are you?”_

_“Fifteen.”_

_Jeremiah just nodded and bit his lip: “Did you come to meet me to talk about the project?”_

_Bruce lowered his head a bit. He wanted to be honest, but he felt a bit stupid at what he was going to say: “Yes, but I also wanted to meet you.”_

_The face Jeremiah made was enough to give Bruce regrets. He didn’t look shock or angry, just resigned, and that was maybe worse._

_“Of course. I know Jerome tried to hurt you.”_

_Bruce didn’t say anything. He hadn’t told anyone he had been living in the streets of course, people thought he had been homeschooled for some times and occasionally went abroad. So except for Selina and Alfred, no one knew about his past interactions with Jerome. Officially, Jerome had tried to hurt him during the attack of an event Wayne Enterprises had taken part of. He hadn’t been able to kill Bruce for no real motive, but he had escaped the police._

_“My brother is still on the loose, a lot of people avoid me for that. I’d understand if you wouldn’t want me around.”_

_“Don’t misunderstand me, I was a bit curious, I admit it. I’m sorry if that was out of place._

_“No, no, it’s okay to be curious, I would be if I were you. Just…Don’t judge me because of what my brother did.”_

_“That would be totally unfair! I have no opinion about you yet, it’s way too early. I also want to know about your work, I was told you had some very interesting ideas.”_

_This time, Jeremiah smiled and showed him Bruce some blueprints. They spent a long time talking about it._

_“You really have a brilliant mind,” Bruce mused._

_“Thanks. You’re also pretty good for a teenager, I rarely meet someone that young who can understand my work.”_

That’s how they started to get acquainted and got friends. Jeremiah wasn’t his closest friend, maybe, but Bruce had a lot of affection for him. He wondered if Jerome behavior had something to do with it? He would have to ask.

After Jerome got shot and arrested, Bruce had asked Jeremiah why he would still visit in Arkham. _Because he still loves me, and I still want to save him from himself_. Bruce felt bad for Jeremiah, being torn between his love for his mother and his love for his brother…Maybe he wouldn’t ask anything from Jeremiah, he had much to deal with. He read one of the books he borrowed; it was a collection of Edgar Poe’s poems and short stories. He read The Raven and felt strange after that. It was the story of a man mourning his dead fiancée and visited by a raven who would speak one word to him “Nevermore”. That bird refused to leave in spite of the protagonist curses and pleas. There was one line in the books in particular which gripped him

_And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming. _

For some reason, this reminded him of Jerome. A dreaming demon…He had entered Bruce’s life and now he would let no pleas or curses drive him away. Fine. Bruce would find another way to get rid of his raven.

**O o O**

Today started as annoying for Jeremiah. Not only had he got people looking at him strangely, once again because of his resemblance with Jerome. It was starting to get old; they should have grown used to that! He also had some complications in his work, and to top it all, he had a bad night because his stupid neighbor would listen to his music too loudly. He had asked him to tone it down, but the bastard refused. Well, he would have to break into his home and inject some little things into his food. Maybe he would make it lethal, he hadn’t decided yet if the idiot would die or not.

That was the problem: he had to be careful whenever he wanted to kill someone. He needed to maintain that image of innocence, at least for now, he still had some projects in mind. So, usually, whenever someone was annoying, he would ask his brother to take care of it, and Jerome would gladly oblige. But now he had to do that himself. Oh, he could have asked one of Jerome’s cultists, they wouldn’t dare to disrespect his wishes, but they tended to be…Clumsy. Jeremiah would rather do things well, pick the flat’s lock, get in and then poison the food. His neighbor wouldn’t see through it. Hell, maybe he actually forgot to lock his door again.

He would poison his neighbor later, though, for now, he had to visit his twin and Bruce. He was impatient to see them both. God, he hadn’t slept much that might but the few dreams he had were about Bruce and when he thought about it, it would almost make him sweaty again. It had been as such since Jerome had met him, hell, he could even say this had started since Jerome had showed him a picture of Bruce Wayne. He remembered well.

_“That’s this kid! The one I tried to get!”_

_“The little street-rat?”_

_Jeremiah rolled his eyes, one kid had been able to beat Jerome in a fight, and now his brother was obsessed in getting him. He had tried several times to get him but the kid apparently called Kyle, always managed to escape or fight him off. And now, Jerome was showing him a picture of Bruce Wayne in the Newspaper. He had heard the name Bruce Wayne, but he had never been able to see him for real._

_“Jerome, they can’t be the same person.”_

_“It’s him. I don’t know what the hell he was doing in the streets, but they are definitely the same person.”_

_Jeremiah didn’t answer, he was absorbed by the picture. It was a tap on his shoulder which called him back to reality. “Hey, are you listening?”_

_“Why would he live on the streets?”_

_“I don’t know, but it was him. He was searching for something, I think, but I don’t know what. Or maybe he is just an eccentric. Whatever, I want to kill him.”_

_“I would like to learn more about him. You know, it’s intriguing.”_

_Jerome laughed. “You want to do him, am I right?”_

_“He is too young.”_

_“Three years apart! And it’s not the worst thing you would have done. Come on, you know what? I’ll held myself back for some times, to allow you to get some time with him. But I won’t do it forever.”_

Indeed, Jerome eventually attacked Bruce again. Jeremiah had been happy the boy could make it away, but he hadn’t been able to hold a grudge on Jerome. If Bruce couldn’t survive his brother, he wasn’t worthy of their interest. He believed Jerome about Bruce living in the streets now. He wasn’t like any other rich brat of the city, and when Jeremiah had asked him why he had been homeschooled, Bruce had remained evasive. His friend loved risks, and he had noticed Bruce knew much more about the poor parts of Gotham than a rich kid usually would. Now he was in Arkham, and he hoped he wouldn’t be hurt, at least, not by anyone else than Jerome.

Bruce was quite…Thrilling, fascinating even. He didn’t want him out of his life for now.

He also wanted to know more about that mess. Pretty much nobody believed Bruce when he claimed his innocence (except Alfred Pennyworth), but he believed it. Jerome was more doubtful, but Jeremiah knew his friend. It wasn’t like Bruce to do that, not at all. Someone was trying to get to Bruce and he wanted to know who.

He wanted to know who was trying to get his possession. 

Arkham still looked grim. He remembered how Jerome joked they should put a few crows and ravens on the roof, to complete the picture. He wasn’t wrong. But now, if what he knew of Strange was right, the man probably wanted the atmosphere to be as such. He was quite impatient to speak with Jerome, he had questions and he was pretty sure his brother would have interesting stories to tell him. But anyway, he was always happy to see his twin. His brother looked pretty impatient too. They smiled to each other. Jeremiah still looked so innocent! Jerome didn’t know how he managed to do that so well.

“So, how are things going outside?” Jerome asked.

“Pretty boring at times. My scientific projects are interesting, though.”

“Still working for Wayne Enterprises?”

“Yes. Speaking of that, how is Bruce doing? I’m paying him a visit after you.”

“Oh, he got sick, but he also got to kick some asses. I wouldn’t be too worried if I were you. By the way, you still don’t mind sharing?”

Jeremiah smirked: “Not at all. As long as you remember to do the same once we get out. Something happened so far?”

“I got to sleep in his bed. Granted, he wasn’t really happy, but he complied eventually.”

“Don’t be too creepy, I’ll visit him as well today. I don’t want him to be too scared.”

“He’ll need more than that.”

Surely. After all, Bruce had never avoided Jeremiah in spite of his appearance, and that’s one of the things he liked about him. Most people would hypocritically pity him but wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him. Bruce had been sincere.

“But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I got another visit today. A woman.”

“Oh, you got a secret lover?”

“Did you just make a joke?” Jerome was gaping at this.

Jeremiah huffed at this: “I can be fun too, at times. But go ahead, what did she want?”

“Ah, now is the interesting part. She offered me to work for her and in exchange of what she would make me escape.”

He didn’t like that one bit, what did she want with Jerome? “I’m the one taking care of your escape, it shouldn’t be so long anymore. And what would you have to do?”

“Manipulate and then kill Bruce Wayne.”

Jeremiah looked at him with eyes like saucers. Jerome already knew his answer, but he wanted to savor the look of fury in his twin’s eyes. He loved it whenever Jeremiah would unveil some of his wildness. Right now, Jeremiah looked like an angry cat.

“No. Way. He belongs to us.”

“We agree on that. Don’t worry, I said yes, but you know how I can easily change my mind. However, that is definitely an interesting matter, don’t you think?”

“Oh yes. Do you have her name?”

“She just told me to call her Tigress. She didn’t tell me who she works for either, but I’m pretty sure she isn’t the brain behind that, I can recognize a henchman when I see one.”

Tigress…That didn’t speak to him, but it didn’t matter. Oh, that bitch probably had claws indeed, but he was also a predator, and he would certainly not let anyone steal what he wanted away. That was probably her and her boss who put Bruce here. Finding her meant a lot of answers, he was sure of that.

“I’ll try to get her name. Your little cult will be handy. What did she want you to manipulate him for?”

Jerome shrugged: “I just have to make him fall under my influence, and once I do that, I would have to make him do something.”

“Fine, I’ll find her and her boss too. As for you, what are you gonna do?”

Jerome titles his head to the side with a big smile: “Well, I would like to know why someone wants to kill our cute little Brucie. That means we’ll play together even more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that scene in Bruce's room was creepy, but it could have been worse. Jonathan will come back soon.
> 
> Review, please!


	4. Haunted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is a quite heavy chapter on an emotional level, I guess.

Although it wasn’t usual for one visitor to see two inmates the same day, Jeremiah had been allowed that. He was impatient to see Bruce, as impatient as he had been to see Jerome. Seeing Jeremiah felt good, Bruce smiled until he saw his friend’s worried eyes.

“Bruce? You’re okay?”

“I’m just a bit sick.”

“You have a bruise.”

“I got into a fight. You should see the others, though.”

Jeremiah gave him a sad grin. “Don’t get in trouble, okay?”

“I’m already in trouble. Jeremiah, do you believe me?”

“Yes. I do believe you’re innocent. You’re not a killer.” _Not yet, but we’ll fix that._

The expression of relief and gratefulness on Bruce’s face was like a treat to him. It was so good to make Bruce feel that way. Anyway it was true, he was genuinely convinced Bruce was innocent. And he was pretty sure that this ‘Tigress’ who wanted him dead knew what happened. But Bruce didn’t have to know that yet.

“Thank you…For believing me.”

“I will do my best to help. You’re not alone, you have me, just remember that.”

The teen nodded, he knew he wasn’t alone, he also had Alfred, but it was good to know there was someone else. But for now, he needed his friend’s help with something else. “Jeremiah, I…I met your brother.”

“I know, he told me about it. What did really happen? I know Jerome can have his own version of things.”

Bruce didn’t dare to tell him about what happened last night, but he eventually spoke about the day Jerome saw him dance with Marina.

“…And then he told me I was ‘his’.”

_Because you are, as much as you’re mine_. Jeremiah acted as if he was confused, though. “What?”

“He exactly said that: ‘You’re mine’. Did he ever do that with someone?”

“No. He could be possessive toward me, but he didn’t ever say something like that.”

That was actually a lie, but he wouldn’t say it to Bruce, and he wouldn’t tell him either how natural it always seemed for Jeremiah to hear such things and say those back. Bruce however, wasn’t the kind to be enticed by that kind of words obviously. Jeremiah decided to lend a hand to Jerome, hunting a wounded prey was easier, and the twins knew it well.

“Be careful, okay? But I also wanted to ask how you were handling things, I mean…Jim Gordon is dead. He was your friend, it’s never easy to lose a friend. So, how are you feeling about it?”

Bruce gaped slightly and a sudden cold enveloped him.

Jeremiah’s words made him mute, his throat couldn’t make a sound for the life of him. Jim Gordon was dead…It was weird, but even though he knew, he hadn’t entirely realized yet. It all seemed unreal and so many things happened. The thousands questions running through his head, the false accusation against him, trying to prove his innocence, being dragged to Arkham and then meeting Jerome…This had happened all so fast, and all the efforts he had done to try to keep his head cold and survive, it had all stopped him from focusing on his loss. But now, as weird as it seemed, hearing Jeremiah say that and ask how he was feeling about it…It was as if realization just fell over him.

Jim was dead. He would never see him again.

“Bruce? Hey, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just…I just wanted to know how you were handling it. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”

But Jeremiah actually devoured him with his eyes. His words were even more efficient than he expected. Reminding him fully that Gordon was dead had probably been like a punch in the guts. This tormented expression…Did he look that way when his parents died? He had no idea but he loved that expression on him, it was just great to see him out of his self-composed mode, to see raw emotions in him. And he was vulnerable…oh he could have almost switched sides with Jerome just to have more time with him. To have Bruce malleable in his hands…

_‘I just gave you a delicious treat, Jerome; Don’t spoil it.’_

It was almost impossible to leave but he had to. His time was over and he still had a lot of work to do. Finding who wanted to kill Bruce and also find who this Tigress was. He also had to kill his annoying neighbor.

**O o O**

Jonathan was happy when he saw Bruce coming back, he had the feeling the scarecrow would torment him once again and he wanted a friend around. Friend…Could Bruce be called a friend? He hardly knew him. But still, he was the closest thing he had as a friend here. He continued to draw as Bruce approached. He had a piece of charcoal, pencils had been forbidden to him since the day he tried to hurt himself and someone else with one.

He noticed Bruce’s expression, and was stunned: he seemed devastated.

“You’re better?” Asked he, hardly looking at the teenager.

“Um…Yeah,” Bruce replied though he was still down. “What about you?”

“Much better! Bastard is still after me, but that’s nothing new!” A nervous laugh punctuated the last words. He didn’t ask Bruce anything else. He knew better than asking people too much.

“Who? Jerome or Strange?” Asked Bruce

“No! Him.”

He showed him the scarecrow he drew and the boy gaped at it. He slowly looked up at Jonathan: “Is that really what you see?” Jonathan just nodded in answer. And yet, he couldn’t draw the colors, the fire and strange rage coming out from a creature which should have remained expressionless.

“What does he do to you?”

“He doesn’t really hurt me, but he watches me, he follows me everywhere…He says horrible things to me, that I will die slowly and…”

“He doesn’t exist, it’s only in your mind, he can’t hurt you.”

“But he does hurt me.”

He really wanted to help Jonathan understand it wasn’t real, but it wouldn’t be easy. He tried to drift his mind away: “You’re good at drawing.”

“Oh thanks…But, it doesn’t matter. I used to draw a little before. Now I just draw him.”

“Maybe you could try to draw something else.”

“Hum…Maybe I could draw you?”

“Me?”

Jonathan frantically nodded and took another sheet and started another drawing; Now that he was silent, Bruce couldn’t help but think of Gordon again. He had been able to think of other things those last days, but now it was harassing him. Maybe it was the normal stage of grief? It took him time to realize and now…Now he did. He thought of the man’s words after his parents died, when he was trembling and in shock, with the cover around him. The cops hadn’t been much help to comfort him, except for Jim. Even today, he could still hear him say: _There will be light_. But there wouldn’t be any light for Jim now…And that because of some unknown bastard! He wanted nothing but tear him apart, whoever he was!

Suddenly, an idea got into his mind, a horrible and crushing idea: what if Jim had believed it was him?

It almost stopped his breathing, but he realized this: if that guy had his features, Jim might have believed it was him. Jim died thinking Bruce was his murderer…Until now, he hadn’t thought about it, he knew he didn’t do it, and therefore he thought Jim had known too. But maybe not. He probably thought Bruce had became crazy…His friend had died thinking he was a killer, a betrayer!

He froze entirely, and his fists clenched. All he could hear were the sounds made by Jonathan’s pencil. For what seemed like an eternity, he just remained there, unable to move. He realized someone was standing by Jonathan’s side only when the pencil stopped.

Jonathan was drawing with fascination. Bruce’s expression was just great to put on paper. He wanted nothing but be able to grasp it, to imprison it with his pencil. Someone sat near him, and he saw it was Marina. He didn’t pay much attention to her, she wasn’t dangerous and he didn’t mind having her around. He felt another person’s presence, someone standing and looking at him but he didn’t bother. Sometimes, people would look at his drawings.

“You have some talents, Johnnie! I must give you that…”

This time, Jonathan froze and stopped as he realized Jerome Valeska was the one speaking to him. No! He didn’t like the redhead, not at all, he was scary, as scary as the scarecrow sometimes! Jerome put a hand on his shoulders.

He soon looked at Bruce instead and the teenager just ignored him, still deep in thoughts. That wouldn’t do. What was he thinking about? He made such a long face, something surely happened. Was Bruce fragile right now? He would test that. But instead of going to him, he continued to speak to Jonathan:

“I bet you feel his eyes on you right now. It must be nagging, like something boring in you…” Jerome murmured that and Jonathan started to fidget on his chair, unable to look up. “I bet you feel like he is leaning down to you…” He leaned down and Jonathan cringed. “And who knows what he could do? Maybe he will let his hands slide around your neck and bury his fingers in it, suffocating you. Can his fingers dig through flesh?” Jonathan emitted a distressed sound, and Jerome laughed. “Maybe he’ll rip your flesh apart…”

The sound of a chair moving stooped him and he just had time to catch the fist coming toward him. Jerome smirked as Bruce sent a kick. This time, he was ready for Bruce Wayne. Marina yelped and Jonathan squirmed as they fought against each other. Jerome was taller but Bruce was more precise, yet with the disease, he wasn’t at his best. He elbowed Jerome in the face after dodging a punch and sent another punch when he received one right in the chest, making his body bent. He received another blow on the side and retaliated with a kick before throwing himself at Jerome to tackle him against one of the tables.

Seeing this made the other inmates go even crazier and some of them started to fight against one another as well, putting a big mess in the common room. Jerome kicked Bruce away from him and struck his face hard. Bruce retaliated with a punch as Jerome lunged at him. A strong hand caught his shoulders, though, trying to restrain him. He struggled and someone threw themselves at the guy holding him captive: Jonathan! The shy boy punched and tried to hit the guy holding Bruce Releasing his prisoner, Jerome’s goon just hit Jonathan instead.

Seeing Jonathan getting attacked made Bruce loss focus. He went to defend him but a hook reminded him Jerome was still here. He received another punch in the stomach and his back hit a table. He lunged at his opponent but was caught again and he heard a big voice:

“Enough fighting now!”

Guards and medical assistants were stopping the fights, and a big security guard was holding him. There was no point resisting, he would only get forcefully sedated otherwise. The guard kept their hold on Bruce but didn’t touch Jerome who was watching him with satisfaction.

“Good job, Bruce, but as you see, it’s not that easy to take me down! Now, what shall you do if your behavior had unwanted consequences on your friends?”

“I won’t let you hurt them.”

“You’re strong but not invincible, and if you fail, poor Jonathan will pay the price first.”

That was a possibility, and Bruce knew that. He threw a dead look at Jerome but remained still and the guard released him after getting a nod from Jerome. The guards went to help his colleagues instead. Gesturing the seats, he kept his eyes on Bruce all the time. His expression was just dazzling: so fiery, so fierce and yet so desperate, so pained...He loved it!

“Come on, let’s talk without fists. We spent an entire night together; we can have a civilized conversation. Seize the occasion; it’s rare for me to suggest such a thing.”

Bruce didn’t make a move and looked at him silently, that intense stare still on him. He died to fight again but Jonathan and Marina would be in the middle of it, he already had a bleeding nose and she was holding her stomach in pain. She probably got punched here, he would have to ask her. Gordon wouldn’t have wanted him to endanger someone. Jerome tsked as if he was a silly child and sat nonchalantly.

“You noticed I have my ways here and I have a lot of imagination. A guy like Johnnie here is such an easy target I could experiment many things on him. Even you, you’re alone and you have your limits. But…I’ll give you a chance to avoid the worst. After all, my brother likes you, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings more than I already have. So, we can make this smooth”

The mention of Jeremiah raised Bruce’s curiosity and took a part of his mind away from thoughts of Gordon. Breathing in deeply to try to cool his head, he sat down at Jonathan’s side, to remind Jerome he wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. Marina tried to help with his bleeding nose while Bruce was talking to Jerome.

“Your brother…So you like him?”

“I always did. We hated our mother, even though Jeremiah never wanted to admit it. But I’m not a complete insensitive monster as some would like me to be. You see, I’m able to love, I just chose not to. I chose to be a monster, because I realized how screwed up our society is. But people would rather think I’m the one who is sick, that it’s not a choice, but a disease! But let me tell you…”

“Let me guess, you’re going to tell me that it’s this world which is sick, which is blind, which create monsters and all. You know that’s an overused discourse, I’m pretty sure every guy like you used it. Maybe you could try some originality.” He was surely not in the mood for such a discourse. Jerome made such a face at this that Bruce’s frustration and anger lessened. It was so satisfying to make him shut up!

This just stunned Jerome: no one ever told him something like that! And his tormented expression had lessened, he was looking more composed again, confident. What the hell?! But now he had to admit that confidence and fire were very attractive too. Before he could reply something, the kid spoke again: “Didn’t you fear to hurt Jeremiah by killing your mother?”

Oh, if the teen knew! Jeremiah had enjoyed killing their mother as much as he did. But well, no one could know.

“I told you, you stubborn mule, it was for the best, he didn’t want to admit it, but Jeremiah couldn’t bear mom anymore too. That’s why he still loves me, and I won’t ever let anything change that.”

Bruce was pretty stunned: if Jerome was acting, he was one hell of an actor! But now, he didn’t believe he did, after all, it was true Jerome never hurt his brother, even though he had killed their mother, tried to kill their uncle and attacked several people of their old circus. No, he surely loved his brother truly, and right now, he couldn’t help but think of what Marina told him: he is handsome. When he wasn’t smiling like crazy and speaking sincerely, Jerome was indeed…good-looking. Why did he think about that?

The lunatic tilted his head, confused: “What are you thinking about?”

Bruce shrugged: “Doesn’t matter.”

Jerome tightened his fist: he _wanted_ to know! He huffed instead: “Come on, go ahead and speak: what’s on your mind?”

“How about you tell me what’s on _your_ mind? We were talking about what you wanted in exchange of leaving my friends alone, I think.”

“Ah, yes. I told you I would give you a chance to avoid the worst. It’s pretty revealing to hear you speak about your friends’ security. Not surprising but revealing. But, you’re right, let’s get to the point: I want you to spend your evenings with me and let me come in your room at night. I don’t want you to protest when I sleep in your bed.”

He could have laughed at the way Bruce’s eyes widened. Marina had a little giggle and watched them with some excitement. The boy looked disgusted and he coughed before speaking once more: “You really are a pervert.”

“Wow, you’re jumping to conclusions, here! That’s pretty revealing too. I just want to sleep in your bed. If there was anything happening between us, I would want you to be willing.”

“Why can’t I believe that?” Bruce coughed again after saying those words. Was it Jerome’s baffling proposition or the disease which made his head ache?

“But it’s true. If I just wanted fuck you, believe me, I would have gotten my ways already. After all, it would be so simple to have one of the doctors give you some drugs which would just make you all limp and defenseless…”

Bruce imagined that and something suddenly tilted. A shiver ran through him and he took a big breath as it dawned on him: that night…

“I was feeling even worse after taking my medicine last night! I couldn’t move as usual! You…”

Jerome’s face lightened in satisfaction: “I asked for a light dosage, I still wanted a bit of a struggle. At least I thought so, until you did.”

Seriously?! The doctor did that? Or maybe Jerome was lying, maybe it was he who mixed up the pills…But he had to be sure. The redhead licked his lips: “So you see? Maybe I could do it again, but with a stronger dose…Haha! Brucie don’t make such a face, I’m kidding! I told you, I want you to be willing. I love challenges after all.”

Bruce didn’t say a word, stood up and took Jonathan’s arm to lead him toward the nursery and the Marina girl followed. Jerome watched them leave. The little tiger was really not gonna give in easily! Didn’t matter, he would entertain some of his inmates around; he had to give that to Arkham’s residents: they were a good audience. His fun was cut off though, when Hugo Strange called him over.

Once in the office, Jerome laid on the couch nonchalantly, as if he was home and not in an asylum. This made Strange grin, Jerome’s attitude wasn’t to displease him, it was more interesting than twitching and scared patients.

“How are you today, doc?”

“I’m doing well, what about you?”

“Pretty fine! Things are getting more exciting.”

“I heard of it; another fight occurred.”

“You know how I can be: I don’t like to do things half-way. And neither does Bruce it seems.”

“How did it start?”

“I was teasing Jonathan Crane and he went ballistic.”

“What were you teasing him about?”

“That stupid scarecrow obsession of his.”

“Are you sure you just intended to simply tease him?” That wasn’t really a question. Jerome smirked: “I might have wanted Bruce’s attention. I did get it, but I don’t get why he wants to protect that guy so much; same with that girl, he doesn’t even screw her! I’d understand if they were fuck buddies, but no!”

“Language.”

That made Jerome laugh before raising his hands in a fake apologetic gesture. Strange went on: “Maybe he was upset about last night?”

“Oh so you know about it too? Well, I guess you don’t mind that much.”

“You’re not a rapist, at least, that’s not your kind of enjoyment. But I’m intrigued about your motivation.”

Titling his head, Jerome replied: “I wanted to stay with him. I’m easily bored and…I don’t know, but there is something about him which I just crave.”

“You want him sexually, but not only.”

“Don’t reduce me to one of those low pervs with no class, doc. I’m much more ambitious. You see, there is one thing I enjoy as much as sex and it’s getting someone addicted to me. I love to make them beg for more, while I remind them I can ditch them easily. Raping? Any idiot can do that, but total dominance over someone…Now you have to admit that’s more impressive.”

“I cannot disagree. And you want Bruce Wayne to be addicted to you?”

“Yes.”

They continued to talk and Strange was pretty sure Jerome wouldn’t try to sexually abuse Wayne. He would have put a stop to it if he had suspicions, but no. Anyway, he was too curious, he wanted to see how things would evolve between the two of them. Jerome was developing an obsession toward Bruce Wayne, it was clear, he had never been really interested in anyone else of the hospital like this before. He also wanted to see how Bruce would handle things. They both had dominant personalities and were in a conflict. That could only be entertaining.

**O o O**

After the fight, Bruce had been to the nursery and while Jonathan had been taken care of, he had confronted the doctor who gave the pills. Of course, the man denied everything and told Bruce he was probably being paranoid. That’s when it hit: he was officially crazy and whatever he would say could be interpreted as some creation of his mind. He had no credibility anymore!

This just made him even more enraged, what Jerome did, what those doctors did, the loss of control over his life, and Jim Gordon…He had returned to his cell instead of the common room and cried out of rage and sadness when he had been in, smothering the sounds in the pillow. He could hear Alfred telling to keep his head up and not cry, but he would have been a monster if he hadn’t shed a tear for Jim. He could see the cop again, when he would try to reassure him, when he would tell him to keep courage, and when he was happy with Dr Thompkins, kissing each other in the police station…The memory of Gordon’s happy face made him cry even more.

His tears were abundant but short-lived. After that, he felt hardly better. Sure, it had been good to let something out, but the pain was still here. And his head hurt, crying had intensified the headache and he was feverish. He had medicine but he didn’t want to take any after what happened. What if it was true that he was paranoid, though? No, it wasn’t the moment to question himself like that, he had to be strong dammit! He had to stop being so weak! He felt like when his parents died, stripped of any power, vulnerable, when someone he loved had been killed! He hated that, and he hated what had been done to Jim, he hated whoever did this, and got away with it! Jim never deserved that! He deserved recognition and a good life!

He clenched his teeth. It was all unfair. He remained like that, between rage, sadness and loss for a long time until he heard someone unlocking his door. He opened his eyes and Jerome entered and smirked at the way the kid’s eyes widened. Bruce was even more stunned when he heard the door being locked by the security guard.

“What the hell…” The sudden situation took him away from dark and gloomy thoughts.

“Remember our agreement, Tiger.”

“I never agreed to anything,” Bruce reminded him, standing in spite of his fever and sore body. He was still down, but he didn’t want Jerome to see it. Jerome stopped before him, his eyebrows raised. “Oh, then which one do you chose, Bruce? Marina or Jonathan? Which one will get a nice electroshock session?”

A punch in the face was the only answer he got from the teen. Bruce grabbed him by the collar: “That’s for the beating!”

A scalpel was suddenly under his neck and Bruce had to stop moving: “What you call a beating was a mere warning. You should remember who is Boss, here. And I was targeting Crane, you could have stayed out of it.”

“Please, as if I’d do that.”

“But I know, that why I went to him: I knew you would take me more seriously.”

Bruce was speechless at this. He shouldn’t have been surprised, this was Jerome after all. The redhead smirked and embraced his waist, drawing them closer. “Come on, you still need to lie down.”

Bruce turned his head away. The lights were dim but his eyes were probably still red and he didn’t want Jerome to see. Releasing himself from his hold, the teen pushed him away while replying: “I’m not drugged this time.”

He laid down under the covers and tensed when he felt Jerome slipping under those as well. Bruce his back to him, refusing to look at him.

“No, and that’s why I won’t make any stupid move. Believe it or not, I just want to know you. But you won’t let me in, so I have to resort to other ways. And if it means hurting other people, well, you should know it doesn’t scare me, Tiger.”

Bruce closed his eyes: “That’s not the only thing you want.”

Embracing him again, Jerome pressed the boy’s back against his chest and this time Bruce didn’t push him away although he was unresponsive.

“There is one thing I wonder: you remember when we met?”

“…Yes.”

“I thought you were a street kid. You really looked like one of those little rats. Why were you living in the streets? How is it you could adapt in here?”

“…I had a friend who showed the ropes.”

“That girl I saw you with? That’s not enough, Bruce. To survive in the streets, you need more than someone showing you the ropes. For anyone, it’s a tough life, so for a little rich kid…How old were you? Thirteen?”

“Why do you care?”

“I want to know what Bruce Wayne was doing in the streets. How did you manage to survive, and how is it no one ever unmasked you before me?”

“…I will only tell you this: I wanted to know more about some things. Myself for one.”

Jerome smirked. “You went to live in the streets just to test your limits. Pretty crazy and bold! I can respect that. What else?”

“I won’t tell you anything else.”

“Come on…Here, one little gesture from me, I’ll show you some of my secrets if you tell me a bit more.”

Bruce thought of it. He didn’t want to open up to Jerome, and yet he would have to give him something, for Jonathan and Marina’s sake, but also to manipulate him. He was also curious to know those secrets.

“You want to know how I didn’t get recognized? Simple: people see only what they expect to see.”

“Now that’s true,” Jerome declared with contempt.

“Even you.”

The redhead’s eyes narrowed at this. He didn’t like being compared to ‘normal’ people, not at all! Maybe he was oblivious to Jerome’s vexation or maybe he didn’t care, but Bruce went on:

“No one, including you, expected to see Bruce Wayne in the streets. So you didn’t see him. You saw only ‘Kyle’, that kid I created and who lost his parents and ran away from a gloomy foster home. As for the rest well…You just observe in silence and then you mimick.”

Jerome’s hold around him tightened, still a bit angry, but also eager to learn more. What kind of kid did that? He embraced him tighter and let his head rest against his black hair. Tomorrow would be an interesting day, he was sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hesitate to review!


	5. Unveiling Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important!! Okay, I realized I made a mistake will re-working on a scene, I forgot to include one element. Basically, Jerome got arrested during the Horror Fair (ep 3x14) and even though his face never got cut off, he took a bullet after being beaten by Bruce. That’s the reason why he stayed for a few month in Arkham, Jeremiah didn’t want to release him before he was healthy enough. 
> 
> I edited the precedent chapters to add that detail, but I wanted to warn you just in case. 
> 
> Please, don’t hesitate to tell if some things are unclear to you. This chapter is longer than usual, but I couldn't split it in two.

Jeremiah liked to try new things; As a scientist, it was always interesting. But sometimes, keeping good old methods could be a good thing. He was sipping his coffee while thinking. He got something about that Tigress who came to see Jerome. He had been able to collect information about her, apparently she was a skilled hit-woman who arrived a few months ago. She didn’t work for any mob, which was quite uncommon for a professional killer in Gotham. Still, he got no name, but he knew she could be contacted at one place, an underground bar held by gang members.

He could go there with no problems, he wasn’t scared of that kind of places. However, his face would often get him…Noticed. She would get suspicious if Jerome’s brother tried to meet her. He had to get someone to send, and who would be better than Echo? The girl was so devoted to him he knew he could trust her with his life. His brother and she had a complicated relationship, but she wouldn’t let Jerome die. Anyway, she would do as Jeremiah would say.

She sat facing him. “So, what are you gonna do now?”

“I know where this Tigress can be found. I need you to go for me, but that’s not gonna be easy.”

“I’m not scared. She might be dangerous but so am I.”

He gave her a little smirk. “Damn right, you are.”

She took a sip of her coffee and she hummed. “It’s quiet. Your neighbor isn’t bothering you anymore?”

“No. I paid him a visit.”

“Is he…”

“He will be soon.”

“I could have done it.”

“No. I don’t want to risk your neck because of him. I don’t want the police to go after you.”

She had a soft little smile at this. Truth to be told, he liked Echo, but he wouldn’t have been devastated if he had lost her. The truth was, she was useful to him and unlike Jerome or his cultists, she was still officially a normal civilian. That’s why he didn’t even think of her when he wondered how he would kill his neighbor. A devoted henchwoman as talented as Echo couldn’t be risked for a stupid ass like his neighbor, if the police was to suspect her, she wouldn’t be able to move around freely anymore.

No. If he had to risk Echo’s life, he wanted it to be worthy, and anything concerning Bruce Wayne was.

“Try to meet her, I want to know what she looks like, and try to follow her after. She can’t know you’re linked to me or Jerome.”

“Of course.”

A gunshot suddenly echoed somewhere in the building, not far away. Jeremiah and Echo looked at him, guessing the gunshot came for the neighbor.

“I had a long conversation with him. I made him understand some…things about himself. Like why he was failing with everything in his life and how loud music and parties couldn’t fill the terrible void in him. I guess my words had some influence on him.”

She nodded thoughtfully. It took a lot to scare her, and she had to admit Jeremiah’s abilities to push someone to such extremities were chilling. But now, this was a perfect way to kill: after all, this was a suicide and the police wouldn’t see beyond that.

“Do we still stick to the plan to free Jerome? Or are things gonna change?”

“Depends on what we learn. I don’t want to wait more than that, if only Jerome hadn’t taken a bullet, things would have been simpler…But now, I guess it’s for the best now that Bruce is in Arkham.”

He had cursed his brother several times for that. Getting beaten by Bruce Wayne wasn’t a problem, but taking a bullet by a cop! Because of that, Jeremiah had to wait before making Jerome escape, his brother had to be healthy to get out. Now, his twin was entirely healed and the fun would soon begin.

**O o O**

“You know, Bruce, one great thing when you live in a circus is that you can pick up a lot of little talents.”

“Is that the secret you said you would tell me? It wouldn’t take a genius to figure that out.”

“Nah, let me finish.”

The two were sitting on Bruce’s bed that morning, Jerome was nonchalantly leaning against the wall while Bruce was sitting with his back straight, looking at him. Last night, Jerome had promised him he would show him one of his secrets if Bruce told him more about his life in the streets. He was pretty intrigued, was it something about his pasts? About his competences? He remained silent. 

“You see, tricks are multiple there. My father, who rest in the grave now that I stabbed him in the eye, was supposedly a fortune-teller. Of course he never had any gift, except the one to read into people and trick them into thinking he understood them. That’s the trick every medium and all use.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s take an exemple: I sense that you’re a person who has a lot of values, and even if sometimes, you might question those values, those are important to you. I feel you might have had some troubles at times fitting in, social pressure can be a big weight at times, and felt misunderstood. Sometimes, you might judge yourself a bit too harshly, but in the end, you try to make up for your own flaws. It feel that you want more independence, a bit less boundaries, because you’re an independent thinker. You like to discover new things also. Did you recognize yourself?”

Bruce hesitated a bit: “In some things maybe but I guess a lot of people would…”

“Precisely! I just throw a bunch of things people will most likely not disagree with. You also observe the person, their twitches and expressions, to let their reactions guide you. My father was blind, but a person’s voice, tone and words can give you hints as well. But that’s not all: you let them do all the work.”

“How?”

“Well, s a medium, I could tell you something like: I feel a person close to you, with the letter ‘M’.”

“My mother was named Martha.”

“Yes, that’s her I’m sensing! You see? That kind of shit, there is just probabilities someone close to you will have a name beginning with ‘M’, but in the end, you’re the one telling me your mother’s name was Martha.”

“So, that’s how mediums tricks people. You pretend to be medium?”

“Nah, but I use some of their tricks. You remember when you told me people see what they want to see? Well, people here, they are the same. I just have to pretend I understand them easily, getting them to talk to me, and that’s how I can start to have an influence on them. They’re lost and they want a guide. I show them I understand them and that I can help them.”

“So, everything you’re doing with your followers, it’s just an illusion.”

“Not really. I do set them free. But in order to do that, I must get some influence, and for that I have to use some methods. But that’s not something I use with them only, it’s easy to get someone who wants to believe. I use it against authority figures too, against people who will resist; That’s a bigger challenge.”

“How?”

“Hum…I said I would tell you one of my secrets, but I’m giving you more than you gave. I want you to answer some questions. You didn’t really tell me how you survived in the streets.”

“I told you. At first, a friend showed me the ropes, and I observed. I was told not to get under anyone’s thumbs, so the first things I learned were how to find shelter and food. I was already training to fight before, I did my best to understand how thugs would think, and know which one I could confront and which ones to avoid.”

“Even if you wanted to test yourself, that’s a lot of risks. Was it your only motivation?”

“I won’t tell you more.”

There was no way he would tell him he went in the streets in order to find the criminal who killed his parents. He didn’t want Jerome to know that kind of things about him. He didn’t want him to know Malone actually killed himself after their encounter.

Jerome rolled his eyes. “I’ll find in time. Then, another question entirely: weren’t you afraid of Jeremiah when you met him?”

“No. He isn’t you; he never did anything to me. It was a bit weird to see someone with your face, but it was obvious he was different.”

“Well, we are different indeed. Now, I’ll go on with my tricks: to manipulate people, you can play on what they desire, but not only.” Those words made Alfred’s ones resonate in Bruce but he didn’t say anything. “You can also play on their fear. The guard who obeys me, Jackson, he hated me at first. But I managed to know what he feared, getting him to talk, and I used his fears to make him weak, and once he had doubts…He was weak and more pliant.”

Bruce frowned: “That’s what you try to do with me.”

“I do, but maybe I will use other methods. You’re a bit more resistant than most.”

“Which ones?”

“I won’t tell! Do you really expect me to reveal all my tricks?”

Bruce stood up and took his medicine again. He was much better now. “What are you planning to do with all that influence?”

Jerome hesitated and stood up as well. “I’ll tell you more at one condition: Let me kiss you.”

Bruce’s breath was cut off at this, making Jerome chuckle. Once the stun passed, he huffed and shook his head: “Seriously? No way.”

“Come on!”

The boy shook his head again. The day passed quite peacefully, and Jerome showed him his technique with one big guy who tried to defy him. At first, the man was defying Jerome, and in the end, he was drinking his words. Bruce observed carefully, he had dazzled the man, but also the rest of the people around him. He was indeed a showman. At the same time, Jonathan was at his side, all at his drawings. At a point, Jerome just took Bruce’s arm and pulled him to have him sit with him on the sole couch of the room, before which a TV was placed.

“Let’s watch some TV now.”

“What? I don’t want to…”

“Remember: if you don’t want me to hurt your friends, you have to be cooperative.”

He didn’t really speak much with Jerome, once again, he observed him mostly. In two days, Alfred would come and see him. They slept in the same bed that night.

**O o O**

Strangely, he felt that he could get used to that, being around Jerome wasn’t that unbearable. As much as Bruce hated him, his presence was almost soothing in a way.

Whenever he was with him, he wouldn’t think of his pain, he wouldn’t think of Jim. Even though he would spread death, Jerome had that capacity to make one feel incredibly alive. With his taunting, fighting and his attempts to mess up with his mind, Bruce had to be inventive, reactive and witty. Those confrontations would test his limits and helped him to push those further and further.

With him, he felt alive and sane in comparison to his twisted mind.

Yes, as annoying and despicable as Jerome could be, he was giving him a purpose he desperately needed, not only to escape but to hold on. The worst was those questions about Jim. The infos had spoke of him, if his tragic death at the hands of Bruce Wayne. This was like a knife in the stomach and he could think of nothing else until Jerome had arrived and tried to taunt him about Jonathan being in solitary confinement. Apparently his friend had tried to hurt himself and was deemed too fragile to stay with the others. Bruce would have argued Jonathan might have needed company. He would try to know whether or not he could be allowed to visit him.

He kinda missed Jonathan. He needed to talk to someone about some strange thoughts he had sometimes. At times, he would think of the conversation they had and wondered how it would feel to kiss Jerome. More especially, he wondered how Jerome would react. He didn’t know why he had those thoughts, but he would not talk to the doctors, especially not Strange. Marina was a sex-addict so she would probably not be the best person. And he would certainly not speak about it to Alfred during his visits.

“Wake up, Brucie!”

The voice took him out of his thoughts. Jerome’s arm sneaked around his shoulder and Bruce pushed it away. Jerome was watching him with amusement and this was just all what it took to annoy Bruce. They were sitting on the sole couch around, and were watching TV. It was now some TV show Bruce never watched before. As he had agreed, he was spending his evening with him. Marina was sitting at his side on the couch too. She had been allowed by Jerome because she said he and Bruce looked hot.

“Lost in thoughts? What got you so absorbed?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because I’m asking nicely.”

“Find another reason.”

The redhead put his arm around his shoulders again and leaned closer. Strangely, Bruce didn’t feel the need to recoil. Jerome smirked.

“Well, you wouldn’t want to get an electroshock session.”

Bruce huffed and leaned a bit toward him. He saw Jerome’s eyes changing and the redhead almost wondered if he was going to kiss him. “You don’t want to grill my brain. Find another reason.”

“Oh, the little tiger won’t get intimidated! Well, let’s see…Ah now, there is something, it could be amusing. I received the visit of a woman, a pretty one. She asked me to do a job for her. Do you want to know what it is?”

“Go ahead.”

“Uh-uh. You have to give me something in return,” Jerome reminded him.

“Fine. I was thinking about Jonathan.”

This made Jerome’s smirk drop, and his eyes threw daggers. “Why?”

“Tell me more about that woman,” Bruce simply replied.

Jerome’s hold on him tightened: “She asked me to wrap you around my pinkie. Then, I’m supposed to make you do something, and then I’ll have to kill you.”

Those words stunned Bruce completely. What the hell?! He pushed his arm away and Jerome savored the look on his face.

“So that’s why you always keep me close!”

“Don’t be stupid, Bruce. I started following you way before.”

“Yeah, sure!”

Jumping on his feet, furious, Bruce started to walk away when Jerome caught his wrist tightly.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Leave me alone!”

“You think I took that offer? You disappoint me, I thought you were smarter than that.”

“So did I.”

He freed himself from his hold and angrily stepped away. He was furious at himself, he allowed Jerome to trick him! But now, what did he expect? That guy was a lunatic who tried to murder him, he had been stupid! He felt stupid and dirty, God! How would his parents and Jim look at him now? How would Alfred? No, he didn’t need to think of them…But he did, he couldn’t help it.

He took a big gulp of air as he closed the door of his cell. The guardian around hadn’t even bothered to ask him what he was doing here. Now that he thought about it, Arkham was working weirdly, a true penitentiary asylum wouldn’t have let the prisoner circulate so freely. But now, it was ruled by a man like Hugo Strange, watched over by incompetent guards who were themselves under the thumbs of a guy like Jerome. No wonder things were unruly. In fact, from what he got, Strange liked that, giving prisoner to have some freedom of move. One prisoner told him Strange thought it was thrilling.

He looked at the small, gloomy cell. Who could ever get better in such a place. His father wished to give a better asylum to that city, where the mentally ill would be really healed.

“I will do it. I’ll do everything to make that place a real hospital,” he muttered. _But only if I can prove my innocence. But how? Even Gordon thought it was me, I’m sure._

No tears came, but he was sad again. He couldn’t loose hope. He knew Alfred would come and visit him tomorrow. He didn’t want his guardian to see him sad and hopeless.

He wasn’t surprised to hear the door open, he knew Jerome would come back. The redhead seemed angry, but Bruce wasn’t exactly in a good mood either, after what he learned he wanted to punch Jerome even more.

“Did you come to do your job?”

Jerome’s glare intensified and the teen almost regretted his words: the psycho looked even deadlier than usual. He approached him slowly.

“You know you really disappoint me, Bruce. I thought you were a bit smarter than that!” His voice was trembling in rage, it was the first time Bruce heard him talking like that. “You pretend to be observant but even after all the time we fought and confronted each other, you still don’t get who I am!”

“What are you…”

Anger invaded the redhead. With no warning, he pinned the kid down with all his strength on the bed; though Bruce tried to push him away and gave a good struggle, Jerome ended up straddling him and pinning his wrists at each side of his head. Bruce’s heart was racing at this point, and he almost stopped breathing when he heard Jerome yell.

“YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I’M SOME DOG OBEYING HIS MASTER?! YOU THINK I’LL LET SOMEONE GIVE ME ORDERS?! I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT, I’M IN CHARGE!”

His storm-like rage made the teen go still, he was bewildered and breathless. The redhead leaned his face closer.

“Seems like you didn’t understand what I told you, seems like I have to repeat: You. Are. MINE! I don’t let anyone take what’s mine! I’m a loose cannon, Bruce, not an employee! You should have understood that already!”

“You could have accepted that in exchange of something. And with you I’d rather have no certitude.”

Jerome sighed and just looked at him, not replying immediately. He looked at that kid who had the guts to talk back when other people would be crying already. Yet he was still angry. He gave him a creepy smile:

“After all the fights we have, you should know a bit more about me! I pursued you back then in the streets, I tried to kill you when you were a billionaire again…One would pick up some things about an enemy they encounter so many times! Do you seriously think I need someone to tell me what to do?!”

It was as if replying something was impossible. Something in Bruce was telling him it was true, Jerome looked genuine, and he didn’t see him work for anyone. But he couldn’t trust the guy like this, there was still a possibility. His lack of words didn’t help to soften Jerome’s mood. He clenched his teeth before yelling:

“I’ll prove it to you if you’re too dense to get it! I’ll find that fucker, and I’ll offer you his head on a plate!”

“Don’t!”

“_I will_! Whether you like it or not, I will! But don’t worry, I’ll teach you to appreciate that kind of gifts!”

Taking a deep breath, Bruce tried to think as clearly and calmly as possible. He had to choose his words carefully.

“You still feel the need to prove yourself it seems. But that’s my prey you’re going for. I want to know who did this, and track them myself. It’s up to me to take them down, not to you!”

This was a pretty stunning answer coming from him, it made Jerome huff and smile: “You don’t have the guts to kill. Not yet.”

“I don’t need to kill, that’s the easy way, your way. It’s not mine.”

Jerome’s hold on his wrists tightened. “You think you’re better than me, Bruce? Let me tell you one thing, boy: you had it easy! You were born with nice parents and in a rich world with the best things handed to you. I lived in a shitty place with shitty people, especially my family. There was only Jeremiah and he suffered too. If our place had been swapped, if you had been born in my stead and me in yours, can you really say you’d be the same? Can you really look at me in the eyes and tell me things wouldn’t be different?”

For a moment, Bruce tried to imagine. He had lived in the streets, but not all his life. Jerome had always poor and rejected, except by his brother.

“Things would have been different, though I don’t know enough about your childhood to tell how much. But even if I had been as bitter as you, nothing says I would have been a murderer.”

“No, you might have been a scared sheep.”

“So your brother is a scared sheep? He doesn’t kill anyone; does that mean he is someone who should die?”

_No, he is more the ‘I push you to suicide’ kind_. But Bruce couldn’t know it, and considering that, the boy just gave a smart reply. It would be fun to see Bruce’s face when Jeremiah would reveal his true self. He was tempted to tell the brat about it, but no, he didn’t want to deprive Jeremiah of this pleasure. So he searched for an answer which wouldn’t uncover Jeremiah’s secret.

“Jeremiah is unique. He cannot be put into that kind of categories. He is a genius, and the people of this city don’t deserve him to work his ass off for them.”

“At least we agree he is unique and a genius.”

They stared at each other intensely and something started to grow as both their breathing intensified. Jerome grinned: “It’s pretty crazy. Who would have thought we would find each other in such a situation? I would never have thought I would want that little brat who fought me off.”

“Get out of my bed.”

“No. Don’t you remember our agreement?”

“You said I couldn’t protest, you didn’t say I couldn’t hurt you. You said you’re no dog, fine. But neither am I, don’t think I will put up with all your orders and antics.”

“Really?”

“Really. That’s the kind of things you notice when you encounter an enemy several times.”

This made Jerome laugh: “Okay, you got me here!”

“Anyway you don’t want someone obedient. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

“Now you see? You do know me a bit.”

Suddenly, he plunged his head down toward his neck and bit the teen hard. Bruce opened his mouth and was at first unable to register what was happening or understand the pain. As he fully realized Jerome was biting him, he yelled in pain, releasing a gargled scream. Those teeth hurt like hell! He struggled, tried to get his wrists free, he tried to kick and push but to no avail. He started to trash even harder but Jerome held on and bit only harder and this time, pain made Bruce still. It felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore.

Blood was leaking, he knew that. And Jerome…Oh hell, Jerome was sucking on it, he was swallowing his blood! He felt a vertigo and for a moment, pain almost stopped, he felt almost numb and for a moment, it seemed like he was looking into an abyss. Finally releasing him, Jerome was still straddling him and kept his hands at each side of his head.

The boy was breathing again, raggedly and deeply. Apart from the repeated move of his chest, he was completely immobile. His didn’t even move his hands after being released, maybe his mind hadn’t even registered that he was free. Jerome looked at him with fascination, the teen’s eyes were wide and lost, Bruce wasn’t even looking at him, he was gazing in the atmosphere. Was it shock? It looked like it, but Jerome wouldn’t have sworn it.

Bruce was still breathing deeply, he had just opened his eyes on something terrifying. He blinked as his eyes caught Jerome titling his head. He forced himself to blink again, trying to grasp reality once more, to get out of that trance-like state. He took one deep breath and a slight spasm went through him. He realized his hands were free and he put one on his neck. H winced in pain. What the hell?! What the hell just happened?!

“See…Now, that should remind you and everyone else that you’re mine. I’m not handing your life to anyone. Now,” he grabbed his chin so they were looking at each other. “Do you see me?”

Oh yes he did! And he hated what he was seeing! He hit Jerome’s side and pulled on the other to make him fall off. He did loose balance and fell on his back at the side of the bed. Jerome laughed.

“Okay, Tiger, I give up this time. But I’ll see you tomorrow. You won’t always escape me.”

He left and Bruce just gritted his teeth, furious and disturbed. God, his neck hurt, but not only. What the hell just happened?

**O o O**

“What happened to you?!”

Those were Alfred’s first words when he saw Bruce the next morning. Of course he noticed the bruise on his neck, or rather the wound.

“One of the patients thinks she is a vampire. She bit three people already.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie: one patient really thought she was a vampire and she did bit people. Now, he just didn’t say it wasn’t her but Jerome who did that.

“Oh God, I can’t stand to have you in the middle of those lunatics.”

“It’s okay, I’ll survive. I got into a few other fights, but I’m starting to get some…Friends I guess. One is confinement sadly.”

“What about Jerome Valeska?”

“Still creepy, but it could be worse. However…” He lowered his voice. “He told me someone came and wants to hire him to kill me.”

“What?”

“A woman, named Tigress. He told me he didn’t intend to do it. At least, not for her.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“I don’t know, he just says he is no employee, that he won’t receive orders.”

Alfred didn’t like that one bit, he would have to find that woman.

“You never heard of her while you were living in the streets?”

“No, I didn’t. I will try to know more.”

“Be careful.”

“Jerome half-rules this hospital, if he wanted me dead, I would be already. For now he wants to play, and I will take advantage of that.”

“I know you will. There is something I need to know though: is there some else bothering you?”

He bit his lips and looked down: “Yes. It’s about Jim…Do you think he knew it was someone else? Do you think he thought it was me?”

At this, his butler was unable to answer. That was a question he never asked himself. He took Bruce’s hand: “He was a smart man. He probably understood something wasn’t right, he knew you. He knew you wouldn’t have hurt him.”

Maybe. It did lessen his torments, but didn’t erase those. Alfred eventually had to leave and Bruce was relieved he didn’t guess anything about Jerome.

That wasn’t his only visit today though, he was surprised when a nurse came and told him another person wanted to see him. He left Jonathan and Marina, thank God, Jerome wasn’t around to ask question and annoy him.

It was strange, beside Alfred, no one would visit him. Wait, Jeremiah, did! Maybe it was just him. He followed the guard and gaped when he saw who his visitor was. No, it wasn’t Jeremiah. If there was one person he didn’t expect to see, it was _her_. He didn’t want to talk to her but his curiosity got the best of him. He sat down, she looked uneasy and nervous.

“Hi, Bruce.”

“Hi, Silver.”

What the hell was she doing here? Maybe she still believed she could manipulate him. Although he broke up with her and avoided her, he never revealed to her or to her uncle that he knew they were plotting something. He only refused to sell his company. She looked down and finally spoke.

“I wanted to know how you were doing.”

“Like one can be in an asylum. I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I know, after we…After we broke up, we didn’t see each other much, but I…I still thought of you. I don’t want you to be hurt, believe me.”

She was a very good actress, because she really looked sincere. But now, he noticed that she looked…Not as good as usual. Her posture was stiff, she had big eye bags, she was pale and…sterner than he remembered. Her fists were tightly closed too. Was she really faking?

“I want you to know that I believe you. I know you didn’t do that,” she whispered. He frowned but wasn’t that surprised. He had suspected Galavan to be behind this, and now he was confirmed it was her uncle indeed. But why would she tell him? Remorse? He doubted it.

“How could you know?”

She took his hands in hers and tightly held those. Bruce stiffened a bit especially when he felt something in one: a piece of paper. The guard here wasn’t really watching them, but he would take no risks, he showed nothing.

“I just know you. Why would you do something like that anyway?”

“Thank you.”

She took off her hands leaving the small piece of paper in his. She then spoke a bit of their school, about the other kids, but there was nothing much about it. She eventually left and when Bruce was back in the Common Room, he went to sit on the couch and looked discretely at the paper. Two names were written on it as well as two other words.

_Peter Tobias_

_Maria Changeler_

_Plastic surgery._

Wait…Bruce thought of all of this over and over again. He thought of Galavan, he remembered perfectly the day he had tried to convince him to sell his company. It was sometimes after he broke up with Silver, understanding that she had been trying to manipulate him.

_“If you sell me your company, I’ll give the name of the man who killed your parents.”_

_Bruce had been surprised, how did Theo knew that? But Theo’s surprise was even greater when Bruce looked at his right in the eyes and told him: _

_“Malone.”_

_Theo might have been a great actor, he couldn’t help but show his stupefaction at this. Bruce just sighed: “I already know about him. I’m not selling you anything.” _

Theo didn’t know about his time in the streets. So he didn’t know Bruce had managed to know more about hired killers and assassins and finally discovered who did it already. He hadn’t seen Galavan again and tried to investigate about him along with Selina, but then they had that argument, and then, he had found himself here. And Jim…

So it was he who killed Jim! He would pay, Bruce swore he would pay! That hypocrite, when he thought he acted like a nice man, wanting to be involved in Charity events and all! But then now, he had been ready to sell the name of his parents’ murderer against his company. A good man would have given it to the Police directly. To think someone like Jim was dad because of a guy like him, it was so revolting it could have made him vomit.

He would do everything to make sure Jim would be avenged and Galavan behind bars! He remembered telling Jim one day that sometimes, you couldn’t hesitate doing some bad things for the greater good. Well, it was time for him to stay true to those words.

He tried to calm down and looked at the paper again. He had to focus on the questions he still had for now.

Who were those people? Why was she giving him those names? Was that a fake lead or something? Or was she feeling guilty? He had no idea, but one thing was sure, he needed to know more, and he couldn’t do anything alone. He needed help from the outside, he needed someone who had connections…Hell. He knew exactly who could help him.

Thinking of the Devil, he appeared. Only Jerome could appear almost glorious in Arkham’s uniform, really. It was a weird, degenerated glory, king of madness and anarchy…But Jerome had power indeed. He couldn’t help but feel the sting of the bit mark.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“No. What a bad surprise.”

The redhead slumped at his side and slipped a hand through his hair, and Bruce just swatted it away. It made the older boy laugh.

“You’re a shy boy, really.”

“You’re annoying.”

“Oh come on, don’t be made! I know that bit was painful, but you could forgive me after all that warmth we shared! You might feel cold again tonight.”

He put his arm around his shoulders only to have Bruce roll his eyes. “You know, I never liked to watch the News, but now I do, I love it, it’s entertaining to see all the massacres across Gotham!” He leaned close to his ear. “Don’t you?”

“Not at all. Some bad memories, maybe.”

“You’re talking about that night at the Fair? I’m the one who ended up beaten up and with a bullet in the shoulder, remember?”

“You asked for it. And I can only be thankful for this.”

Sneering a bit because he knew that was true, Jerome nuzzled his temple, fondly musing over the way his hair grazed the fair skin.

“Then you should let me make it up to you.”

Bruce was about to tell him to leave him alone when he stopped himself and looked at Jerome.

“Tell me one thing, the woman who came to see you, how was she?”

“Beautiful, with a black soft skin and long dark hair…”

“Tied in a tight ponytail?”

Jerome was surprised at this and looked at Bruce with confusion at first and then his smirk grew.

“You know who she is, don’t you?”

Bruce didn’t answer, but Jerome didn’t need it. Tabitha Galavan…She wasn’t really talkative when he encountered her, but he remembered her. Before Jerome could ask something else, he was called for a session. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and started to walk away.

“Have a good time, I’ll wait for you impatiently!”

Jerome laughed at his own words. Bruce turned round and Jerome thought he was going to tell him something, but instead, the boy leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He felt a wave of arousal and of complete stupor at this. He was breathless, this…This was…He didn’t expect that!

Like a little devil, Bruce smirked: “What?”

Then he left and followed the nurse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that was a hell of a long chapter! Well, if anything is confusing please tell me, I’m not sure it’s always clear for the reader. As I said, I forgot to include the story of the bullet, though it’s not a big thing in the story, but I didn’t want to leave it.


	6. Green-Eyed Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter is here!

Jerome was thinking about the kiss, still stunned Bruce had been bold enough to do that. He had no doubts about the teen’s intentions: he only wanted to obtain something from him. But now, even though Bruce was trying to manipulate him, it didn’t mean Jerome couldn’t make him lust. After all, sometimes the hunter could become the prey. Right now, they were two hunters preying on each other. Who would end up as the prey and who would be the hunter? He wondered. Anyway, he was pretty excited for that game.

He thought of Bruce’s lips on his, and the way he had leaned down toward him. He was aroused thinking of it. He didn’t care that the boy was trying to manipulate him, and after all, it was only fair. Jerome wanted to manipulate him too, it was the game. He just died to turn the tables around and make Bruce lust for him crazily! 

Some inmates asked him if the boy was his new lover and though Jerome remained evasive about it, he promised himself Bruce would be.

“You’re in love with him?” Asked Marina.

“For a sex-addict, you’re very romantic.”

“I never got loved in my life, sex is the only thing that got close to it.”

Jerome nodded, for once, she said something quite interesting. “I didn’t get much love either, having someone look at you with lust can be real thrill. Especially someone difficult to get.”

The TV managed to distract him until Bruce came back. It was obvious he looked angry and Jerome wondered what happened with Strange. He resisted the urge to stand up and go to him, he wanted Bruce to be the one coming. Would he kiss him again? He wondered. He looked sad again, making that long, serious face again. It was kinda laughable and lovely at the same time. But he preferred to see Bruce serious and angry than serious and sad. Sadness was boring.

The boy eventually went to him and sat at his side casually. Jerome slowly put an arm around his shoulders, but didn’t kiss him. Although he longed to do so, he wouldn’t want to appear too eager. He was in control, and he wanted the teen to be the one asking for something.

“How did it go? You look like you’re about to cry us a river.”

“That’s private.”

He wouldn’t tell Jerome how Strange had tried to speak about Jim Gordon, and how it plunged him again in that sad despair, with his thousands questions and the horrid feeling of loss because he would never see him again. He wouldn’t tell him how Strange mentioned Dr Thompkins (she used to work here) and how she and Gordon had met here when he was working with the security. It had been like a stab in the heart. He had thought of her a bit too since it all happened. She had left Gotham now, but she had probably heard of what happened. What did she think of it? He remembered that at a time, she would visit him on a regular basis to speak to him. She hadn’t been his shrink, not really, but they had talked together about some things before he decided to run and live in the streets. They had also met a few times again after he came back home. He kinda missed her.

He surely wouldn’t tell Jerome about any of that, how being reminded that Jim had worked here was making feel worse. But more of all, he wouldn’t tell him how somehow, he wanted to see Jerome in order to get his head out of the water. At least with him he would think of something else.

“Look at this, Bruce! The Kardashians! Have you ever seen something as stupid as this?”

“You like it?” He asked without much interests.

“Their stupidity is amazing! And let’s be honest, there are only two reasons why people are watching that kind of shows: either because they’re as stupid as fuck, or because they want to feel superior. Those guys are modern-day buffoons, but unlike them, they don’t realize how ridicule they are.”

“Maybe they do. Maybe they know playing stupid is their best card to become famous and rich.”

“You really have to get no self-esteem to do that!”

“You have a reputation as a killer, is it better?”

At this, Jerome’s smirk faltered and he pulled Bruce closer and fully turned to him: “Killers are dangerous. When people look at what I do, they fear me. And when I make people laugh, they laugh with me, not at me. But all my followers knows they shouldn’t mock me, I am a predator, I’m the hunter, not the ‘ridicule buffet’! Don’t you dare to compare me to them, or I can guarantee you, you’ll regret it.”

Something in Bruce raised again, the energy, the will to fight back. “You aren’t ridiculed, but you aren’t loved either.”

“We do love Jerome! It’s you we despise!” One cultist exclaimed.

“Do you hear that, darling? This world wouldn’t love me when I was a nice guy, Bruce. Not even my own parents. So why try to be a nice guy if they clearly don’t want me to?” Before Bruce reply, Jerome leaned closer: “And it doesn’t seem to me that I really disgust you that much.”

“You’re talking about earlier? Don’t get too enthusiastic, it was just once to make you shut up.”

“Didn’t think you’d take that kind of things so lightly! We’ll see if you don’t want more, though. You went away a bit too quickly earlier, were you scared of my reaction?”

“No!”

Jerome chuckled. The kid really didn’t like it when someone contested his bravery. Most people didn’t, but it was even more obvious in Bruce. He had been sheltered during his childhood, and when he had been confronted to the hardship of life, he had probably felt how helpless, green and naïve he was. Surely the kid had pushed himself hard to get out of that pampered rich kid shell and get some strenght, so he didn’t like being called vulnerable. Now that was a good angle to exploit.

“Well, we’ll see whether or not I scare you very soon.”

They eat their last meal and didn’t speak of that anymore, but it was in Bruce’s mind. What could happen? He imagined different kind of scenarios, and how he would react to it. But he was pretty sure it wouldn’t go as it usually would. Jerome followed him to his room, the guards didn’t say a word, as usual.

Once they were just the two of them and the door locked, Jerome just pinned the boy against the wall, roughly seized his waist and crashed his lips against his. He heard the boy grumbling and he was pushed away from him. Confusion and anger started to rose in him as Bruce’s hand maintained him away.

“Not like this!” The teen exclaimed

“What the hell are you…”

“You’re not obliged to act as if I was some doughnut! You can be a bit smoother, you know?”

Confusion passed through Jerome’s eyes and Bruce gently cupped his cheeks. He tenderly kissed him, his kiss slower and gentler. He didn’t really know what he was doing, he hadn’t given so many kisses in his life, but he still had learned some things. When they broke apart, Jerome’s breath was shaking, he had enjoyed this, but he also looked confused.

That’s when Bruce realized it: Jerome had been treated brutally all his life. Gentleness was something which had been seldom given to him, only by his twin. Maybe he would never admit it, but a part of him wanted gentleness and if Bruce could give him that…_Key to manipulation is to let other people think we can give them what they want_. It wasn’t only about sex…

He kissed Jerome again, still experiencing, searching for the right moves, the right gestures. Bruce ran one his hand gently over his back, while the other went in the red hair, stroking sweetly. By the way Jerome hugged him tighter, and breathed harder, it seemed to please him. The redhead was stroking him up and down, letting his finger run along his spine in a way which made him shiver. Bruce pressed himself a bit more and took Jerome’s upper lip between his own and passed it between his teeth, not biting, merely teasing it. He felt Jerome tense and quiver. The redhead looked at him with hunger when they broke the kiss.

“You learned from what I told you.”

“What?”

“To manipulate people, you have to use either what they desire or what they fear. You don’t know what I fear but…” He gave him a short kiss. “You know what I desire.”

“If I’m manipulating you, why are you going through it?”

“Bruce, do I look like someone who will deprive themselves of what they want, just because there is a risk?” He kissed him again before adding: “I’m just a guy who loves risks and takes what he wants. That’s all.”

_And I want that one_. He kissed his neck this time. Truth to be told, he had never felt such a lust toward someone, but it wasn’t just lust, it was something else entirely. He was feeling the same longing that he felt for murder. He remembered how he fantasized about it, how it just itched to try and how he wanted things to be as intense as possible. He was impatient to have Bruce just like he had been impatient to commit his first murder. He didn’t really know why, it wasn’t as if he was a virgin, but he had a feeling Bruce would be different from the others.

That’s when he realized something, and he asked suddenly: “Did you ever have sex?”

“No. And I’m not about to!”

“We’ll see. Am I the first person you kissed?”

“No, I kissed girls already. You’re the first guy I kissed, though.”

“I’m flattered. You didn’t seem so shy about it.”

“You don’t intimidate me as much as you wish.”

“As much? That means I do intimidate you to a certain degree.”

Bruce opened his mouth slightly but didn’t find what to reply immediately. Jerome took the occasion to fully kiss him. They exchanged a few more kisses before Bruce finally went to bed. Jerome took him in arms as usual, quite frustrated they didn’t go further but he knew he would have to wait.

While the redhead was falling asleep, Bruce continued to think. He thought about the names Silver gave him: _Peter Tobias, Maria Changeler, Plastic surgery_. What could it…That’s when it dawned on him: there was a possibility. Of course! But if it was what he was thinking, why would Silver give him the key to what happened? He had no idea, but if it was that…

If it was that, then maybe he would discover the key to a lot of things.

**O o O**

That morning, Alfred went to the GCPD. He knew the cops here didn’t want to see him, but if they thought their glare and hostility could stop him, they were dead wrong! There was only one cop they wanted to see, and it was Harvey Bullock. He didn’t know him as much as he knew Jim Gordon, but he seemed to be a good policeman. Maybe he could talk to him to know where they were at with the investigations. He found the man at his usual desk, he was on the phone, talking loudly to someone. He had big eye bags, and looked like he got older.

“Detective Bullock?” Alfred called softly once he hung up.

The man looked surprised at his sight. At least, unlike his other colleagues, he didn’t look at him with anger or spite.

“Pennyworth? Hey, what’s going on?”

“I just came by to know if you haven’t found anything.”

“We haven’t found Jim’s body yet. We’re still trying, but the more days go by, the less we’re hoping.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I also wanted to know if you had any news about the investigation.”

“The investigation?”

“Well, about his death. I mean, I know they all deemed Bruce guilty, but you probably don’t believe…”

“Alfred…” Bullock raised his hand, looking dumbstruck. “I’m sorry, but there is no investigation anymore! I mean, I know you’re heartbroken and trust me, I am too, but we all saw what happened.”

“There was some bloody ploy behind it!”

“I also thought that at first, that maybe the images had been scammed, I couldn’t believe that your boy did it, but it’s freaking authentic! Bruce lost it, somehow, he did, I don’t know why, but he did…”

“You can’t believe that!”

“Alfred, please, go home. I know it’s hard for you, it is for everyone. But we can’t change what happened.”

Bullock was sincerely sorry for him, even if a part of him wished he could just face the truth. It had taken all his self-control not to burst at him, because it pained him to hear about Jim. Yet he could understand it was hard, the kid always seemed like a good one, he had been brave whenever Valeska or someone else had attacked him, but it seemed like Wayne’s worst enemy had been his own mind. It saddened him, Jim had always been fond of the kid…

He sighed. God, he had to admit he missed Gordon. The guy had his annoying side, but he liked him truly, they had been good partners. To think he ended up like that…He still remembered when he had to tell Lee Thompkins about it. She had moved out of Gotham, but even if she wasn’t with Jim anymore, he had felt like it had been his duty to do so. She had been unable to speak at first, then he had heard her tight voice saying it couldn’t be before sobbing. 

The only thing he could do now was to find Jim’s body and give him a decent burial.

Alfred was furious, knowing that nothing advanced. How could Bullock seriously believe that Bruce killed Gordon? He had seen them together, he had seen how Jim cared about him! But then now, he didn’t expect much from the cops. Ironically, Jim Gordon would have been the only one to believe Bruce in such circumstances! But then now, if he had been Bullock or the other cops, would he have reacted differently? He knew Bruce, but they didn’t!

As he parked before the manor, he saw a young girl at the door, with long blond hair. He recognized Silver St Cloud easily. What was she doing here? He got the same idea as Bruce did: he thought she probably wanted to play them again.

“Miss St Cloud?”

She turned round, seeming nervous. What was Galavan up to? If he had sent his niece here, he surely wanted something.

“Hum, I thought of paying you a visit. I went to see Bruce yesterday.”

“That’s…Nice of you.”

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m really sorry for what’s happening, and I also wanted to give you this: Bruce forgot it when he visited me once. I forgot to bring it back to him in Arkham. I don’t know if they would have took it though.”

Alfred frowned as she handed him a book. It was a Stephen King book and it immediately seemed weird to him. Bruce wasn’t really fond of this author, and that book looked brand new. He gave her a quizzical look, but she still gave him pleading look and he thanked her.

“Thanks a lot. I will see if I can give it to him.”

She left shortly afterward. _The Dark Half_, he didn’t know that book at all. As he entered the house, he saw Silver going back in the car and the driver left. He started to look inside the book and saw hand-writing on a normally blank page. He frowned as he read:

_Peter Tobias_

_Maria Changeler_

_Plastic surgery._

What the hell? He had no idea what it could be, why did Miss St Cloud gave him that? Plastic surgery…Those people were plastic surgeon? He would go and see Bruce right now, maybe he had an idea of who those people were.

Once he finally got to be face to face with the teen, he was relieved to see he looked a bit better. There were many people talking that morning, Alfred leaned toward Bruce and explained him what happened with Silver and Bruce quickly nodded.

“She gave me the same name and the same words,” Bruce whispered, “and it’s crazy but I have an idea. I thought all night about it.”

“What?”

“It’s a theory but what if the people who did that just…Had someone make plastic surgery to look like me?”

Alfred gaped. That was crazy indeed, but…But that wasn’t impossible. If someone had been paid well enough, they might have accepted.

“Galavan could have paid someone.”

“Yes, and whoever those people are, they are linked to this. They’re probably people behind that plan; maybe they are the doctors who were in this. I don’t think they would have done such a thing in a legal cabinet, though, it would have attracted too much attention.”

“Where then?”

“When I was living in the streets, I had worked a bit for a ‘doctor’. He would work for thieves and other kind of criminals who couldn’t justify their wounds in a real hospital. From what I learned with him, he wasn’t the only one and there is different kind of doctors like him.”

“Okay; I’ll see what I can do to find them.”

They continued to speak, Alfred asking him how he was handling things and giving him advices until he had to leave. On the way back, he decided he wouldn’t talk to the cops. Bullock would need more than a simple theory to reopen the case. No. He needed someone who knew the streets though. He knew exactly who could help, even though Selina Kyle wasn’t his favorite person, he had no doubts she would accept. 

**O o O**

After Alfred’s visit, Bruce went to see Jonathan who was still in isolation. Bruce had convinced Strange to let him visit his friend. He went with Marina, the girl looked happy at the perspective to see Jonathan. It almost drove him crazy to be forced to stay in Arkham and not investigate on those names, but at least he could help his new friend. Hell, he realized he hadn’t told him about Tabitha Galavan visiting Jerome. But now, Alfred wouldn’t be able to do much about this, and he didn’t want to worry him much. Anyway it was better to learn more before telling Alfred.

“What happened between you and Jerome? You had sex?” Asked Marina while they were on the way, distracting him from his thoughts.

“No. We just kissed and things like that.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re a romantic dove, I forgot!”

From anyone, this would have been a sarcastic, mocking comment, but from her it was a genuine praise.

“You think Jonathan is a romantic too?”

“I don’t know. We never talk much about that.”

“You two spoke of the scarecrow thing, I know. It’s really weird, when you think about it…”

He stopped listening as this reminded him of the day Jonathan explained him about it and how Bruce had told him he never killed Jim Gordon. He couldn’t help it, but once again, he remembered Jim and sadness invaded him. He came to think of him and Lee, imagining how they had met. They were like ghosts to him now. He also remembered the first talks he had with her. Even though he had been a bit reluctant to speak to her at first, he had started to get truly fond of her. Talking to her had felt right, nothing like with Strange. With that guy, Bruce felt like a lab rat about to get vivisected, plus he still suspected him to be involved in his parents’ death. Oh did she also think he killed Jim? How did she feel about him? She probably hated him. This felt like another stab in the heart.

When he entered the cell, he saw Jonathan drawing horrid figures on the ground with a charcoal. He had drawn on the walls too. Walking gently, the teen approached.

“Jonathan?”

The young man abruptly turned to them, and his wide eyes, agitated look startled Bruce. He looked like he just woke up from a horrible nightmare. Clumsily getting to his feet, Jonathan smiled and threw himself at Bruce to hug him. The teen returned his hug awkwardly, not expecting that sudden reaction.

“Bruce! Oh God, I was so desperate here! I’m alone all the time, it’s just horrible!”

“We won’t be able to stay for long, but we’ll try to visit you as much as we can.”

He released Bruce and looked at him with desperate and sad eyes. Marina went to them and took Jonathan’s shoulder.

“Hey it’s okay, sweetie.”

He hugged her too, though it wasn’t as enthusiastic as with Bruce, he still seemed happy to see her as well and she was beaming because of the hug. They sat on Jonathan’s bed and started to talk. Bruce noticed the guard was watching them. Was it for their security? He had no idea. He soon got the answer to that question.

When he went back to the Common room, he had some minutes of peace before Jerome appeared, grabbed him by the wrist and took him away. Bruce asked him what he was doing and Jerome just grumpily said that they had to speak alone. Just like last night, Jerome seized him by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall, and Bruce expected a kiss but instead, Jerome crushed his body against his, trapping Bruce against the wall.

“What is between you and Crane?!”

The abrupt question made him tense and then he remembered the guard: “You’re spying on me?!”

“I told you I can do many things. What is between you and Crane?”

“He gave me a hug and that’s all. Friends do that sometimes, not that you have much but…”

Jerome slammed him against the wall. “Don’t mock me!”

Bruce sent his knee in Jerome’s side while pushing him away. They struggled against each other and though Jerome always threw him on the floor, Bruce kept balance and kicked the back of his legs and pushed him on the bed. Bruce straddled him and pinned Jerome’s arm down.

“Now, listen to me: there is nothing between me and Jonathan! And don’t ever spy on me again!”

“…You know you look sexy when you’re on top.”

Jerome’s aroused smile and lack of resistance was baffling but maybe he should have expected that.

“You just want a good excuse to pin me against the wall, don’t you?”

“Haha! Bruce, please! As if I need an excuse for that! No, I just don’t like sharing.”

“I don’t belong to you.”

“Come on, we already spoke about it many times…”

He pushed himself up and kissed him. Bruce wondered if Jerome was really jealous or if he was faking it to manipulate him. He really looked genuine. When they broke the kiss, Jerome suddenly pushed him down, and this time he was the one pinning him against the bed.

“But it’s not all, Bruce…What is that, exactly?”

Though he wondered what he was talking about, Bruce’s breath stopped as he saw Jerome pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.

“_Peter Tobias, Maria Changeler, Plastic Surgery_…What is that, Bruce? Don’t tell me you want plastic surgery, I like your pretty face!” He laughed at this, enjoying Bruce’s mortified expression and then stopped laughing abruptly: “Now, speak.”

He should have destroyed this instead of hiding it! “You don’t need to know that.”

“I want to. I want to know everything about you. Now, you have two options: one you can tell me, or two I can ask people around if they know those names, the guards, the doctors, Strange…I’ll eventually find out and maybe I won’t be the only one interested in this.”

Strange…If this got to Strange’s ears, maybe it could have bad consequences. He breathed in deeply.

“How can I be sure you won’t repeat it to anyone here?”

“I promise. And you can still find a way to keep my mouth shut.”

Leaning up toward his lips, Bruce gave him a slow kiss. “Like this for example?”

“Yeah…Like this.” Jerome’s voice was trembling a bit. “Now, go ahead.”

Reluctantly, Bruce started to explain and Jerome found it very interesting. He took Bruce in his arms and kissed his neck. Now that would be one hell of a story to tell his brother!

“Jerome?”

“Uh?”

“Seriously, never spy on me again.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Bruce rolled his eyes but still embraced Jerome and kissed him in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it goes, I hope you enjoyed it, don't hesitate to review!


	7. Cat and Mouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually don’t write much around Christmas, but I’m stuck away from my family until the 24th because of my work, so in the meantime, I write. Enjoy!

Bruce was hardly able to eat that morning. Jerome had left him hastily, more than usual. He was pretty sure the redhead was preparing something and he didn’t like that. Yesterday, not only Jerome had made him explain about the names, but he also forced him to reveal who ‘Tigress’ was. So now, Jerome knew about the names and he also knew that the mysterious woman who visited him was Tabitha Galavan. Hell! When he thought that the redhead had then kissed and snuggled with him, right after threatening him to tell everything to Strange…And he returned those gestures. It wasn’t even out of fear, it was…He didn’t know. What the Hell was wrong with him? Now that he thought about it, Alfred would probably be very ashamed of him, kissing another boy, and Jerome with that! Maybe his guardian wouldn’t mind it much if he liked guys too, but he wouldn’t tolerate him being involved with Jerome Valeska. But now, Alfred wasn’t here with him, he was alone and having that with Jerome made him feel weirdly alive.

Music was passing again in the Common room, and he eventually felt someone take his hand. He was surprised and thought it was Jerome but saw Marina instead. She pulled on his arm.

“Dance with me!”

He shrugged and stood up to follow her. Some lunatics were dancing as well already. He made her gently spin round while thinking. Maybe he should act a bit crazy? After all, if Galavan and Strange thought this place was taking its toll on him, it was even better. Underestimating an adversary was one of the biggest mistakes to make. And if he remembered well, Galavan wanted him to fall into Jerome’s hands. He could let them believe he was slowly getting under his influence. Now that relationship he was starting to develop could have more than one use. So he would have to swallow his pride and let everyone believe he was turning into Jerome’s puppet. Or maybe he could tell him? After all, manipulating everyone would just sound great to him. But no, Jerome was unpredictable, it was too risky.

Marina waved her arms, embraced him and Bruce made her swirl round. She laughed at this. He had to admit dancing with her was somehow relaxing, he would forget about people around them. He stopped after a few minutes and saw Jerome was looking at him. He went to him, and sat at his side.

“I really like watching you dance.”

“I know. What did you do?”

“What will you give me if I tell you?”

“I want you to tell me a bit more about you. About your parents.”

Bruce didn’t want that, but it could be important to know what Jerome had been doing. His hastiness to leave had been strange.

“I will, but once we’re alone.”

“You don’t want people to hear? Is my little Brucie shy?”

“There are things I’d rather not speak about in public.”

The evening came too slowly; Bruce didn’t lose time, though. He read one of the psychiatrist books available. Since he couldn’t move as he wanted, or train as he wanted, he would learn things. Jerome didn’t bother much, he had found another toy for now: a guard he was starting to wrap around his finger. Bruce observed him. Though the guard was telling him to shut up at first, Jerome finally got him to listen, and though the guy called him a lunatic at the end, it was obvious he was upset by what Jerome told him. The redhead smiled at Bruce, proud of himself. The boy just raised his eyebrows, pretending to be impressed. It wasn’t completely untrue, he had to admit it, but he didn’t like it. They went in Bruce’s room as soon as they were done eating. As soon as Bruce sat on the bed, Jerome sat behind him.

“Mind if I hug you?”

“As you wish.”

“I wished you’d give me a more enthusiastic answer. But I guess I’ll go with that.”

He leaned closer and wrapped his arms around him, pressing the boy’s back against his chest. He rolled his eyes, but at least Jerome was warm, it was at least a good thing. He remembered what he understood: Jerome wanted gentleness too. He allowed himself to lean against him.

“So, what is it you wanted to know?”

“Little details about you and your life. What did your parents do to punish you whenever you were a bad boy?”

Bruce didn’t miss the way he pronounced the two last words, but didn’t react to it. Instead, he just shrugged: “That depended of my age. When I knew how to read and count, they had an idea: whenever I did something bad, they would make me go at the Wayne Tower after school or during week-ends, and they would make me help with some things, like the record department.” He huffed at Jerome’s surprised face. “They always had a lot of things to classify, or they had old files to type back in the computers. I learned to use a computer there. They gave me the easy but tedious jobs. That way, I was punished, because instead of playing I had to do those boring and tedious things, and it was good for them, since it would help the employees.”

“Wow, that was kinda unexpected! How long would it last?”

“Depended on what I did. Some employees took that idea: they did the same with their children. That’s why there were often kids hanging around in the Wayne Tower.”

“And why did they want your butler to take care of you? Don’t you have any other family?”

“Alfred knows me since I’m born. He lived in the house with us, he is the best placed to take care of me.” He had some distant relatives, but he didn’t want to talk about them with Jerome. “That was two questions. Maybe you could tell me what you were doing that morning.”

“One more: did they absolutely want you to be CEO of Wayne Enterprises? Would they have accepted you to be something else?”

“My father was a doctor. He and my mother would still take the most important decisions, but he still had a medical career. They told me that as long as I worked seriously, I could do what I wanted.”

Jerome was a bit disappointed. If daddy Wayne had been ready to force his son into one way, he could have used that on Bruce, showing him that his parents had controlled him all his life. But no, apparently, he wouldn’t be able to use that. “And what do you want to do?”

“Well, for now, I would want to listen to you telling me about that morning.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “I was talking to Jeremiah on the phone. If you want to know more, I told him about your theory and the names. It interested him deeply.”

“What?!” He told Jeremiah? Was that even true? He would have to use his phone call to ask the genius about it.

“Is that so surprising? You’re friends, aren’t you? And Jeremiah isn’t the kind to leave a mystery unsolved.”

“I believe Jeremiah would help me, but why would you tell him?”

“Why not? I love my brother, and it makes him sad to know you’re here. So I’m helping him. And to be fair, this is not your place, here, you can’t develop all your potential. You’re a free bird, Bruce, pretty much like me. You need to be out there, running free, just like me.”

Bruce opened his mouth and shivered in realization. “You plan to escape, don’t you?”

Jerome laughed at this. “Of course I do! What did you think? Oh, but don’t think for a second that I will tell you anything about it, you would have to give me much more than this.”

Bruce knew what that meant. Jerome laughed and embraced him more tightly in a clingy and warning gesture.

“Why did you want to know those things about my parents?”

“I wanted to know how family life could be like. You see, I don’t feel sad about my parents, I don’t know what it is for someone to mourn beloved parents. And I wanted to know more about you,” Jerome murmured with malice.

“I wouldn’t mind knowing more about you either.”

“I’m flattered! Go ahead, ask something.”

“When did your…Thirst for murder started?”

“Well, I can’t really say when it started, maybe I was always like that. And I guess growing up in the circus didn’t help.”

“What did they do to you?”

“Well, the rest of the circus mostly mocked me and Jeremiah, they rejected us. Sometimes, they would try to beat us, but with time, we both learned how to fight. Yeah, Miah doesn’t look like it, but he is actually good at this. We both learned that we had to make them fear us. Miah mainly used his brain, he would manipulate them, while I pulled pranks and used physical threats. One girl actually liked me, but I didn’t want her.”

“Because you only like guys?”

Jerome laughed: “No Bruce, to me it doesn’t matter. Girl or boys, I like both, but I won’t take anyone.”

“Because she wasn’t pretty enough?”

Kissing the back of his neck, Jerome smirked: “No, it’s not really a matter of beauty, that girl was just a total skank, you could get her with a simple smile. You see, my mother and my uncle always told me I would never get anything good, that only cheap whores would want me. They were pathetic and low, and they thought they were better than me!”

Though he despised Jerome, a part of him couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Having your family say such things…Jerome went on: “But I promised myself I would aim for the best. That’s why I don’t get anyone as my lover, I want to get the very best one,” he nuzzled his neck. “And you are.”

“I’m a tool to get revenge on them.”

“Come on, Brucie, don’t get over-dramatic. I wouldn’t consider a tool as ‘the best’. No. A smart, sharp, fierce and handsome savage, that’s the best. The day you’ll become a tool, I’ll kill you out of pity.”

“That’s nice to know!” He remained silent for a bit and then frowned. “Why did your mother say such things?”

“What?”

“Your mother, and your uncle, why did they say such things?”

This question didn’t surprise Jerome that much, although he wasn’t expecting Bruce to ask about it so soon. “They were trash, that’s all. And the lower and the trashier people are, the more they want to feel important. And when you get no way to be important, you just try to humiliate and lower someone else.”

“And they did that with a child,” Bruce concluded, and Jerome didn’t miss the disgust in his voice.

In a slow move, Bruce turned round and Jerome could look at his sad and soft face. The teen’s arm went around him, embracing Jerome back for the first time. In other circumstances, he would have been thrilled, but not now.

“I don’t need your pity, Bruce.”

“It’s called empathy, or compassion. That’s not the same, so just enjoy this.”

He didn’t know what to think of it, but if speaking of his family could give him results with Bruce, he would use it. He returned the embrace, finding that quite enjoyable.

“My own flesh and blood…They always said Jeremiah should be held away from me because I would be a bad influence. When they got the ways to send him to that boarding school…We were both heart-broken. He lived with uncle Zack, but we managed to see each other as much as possible, we would also write to each others.”

“I know, he told me about it once. He told me how you missed each other when he was away.”

“You don’t have siblings. You don’t imagine what it’s like to have a twin. It’s like having a part of you out of your body, with its own flesh and bones. And it’s as if there was a bit of them in you, a bit which doesn’t really belong to you. We understand each other deeply. I was ready to do anything to protect him against those who would hurt him, and they were numerous.”

Bruce frowned. Something in what Jerome sounded…Strange. He didn’t show anything, though. “Why would people hurt him?”

“Do you imagine what it’s like to be a genius among ignorant assholes? People would either be jealous or spiteful, they labeled Jeremiah as weird because he preferred to draw complicated mazes instead of playing dumb ball games. Me? I preferred tricks and booby traps; I loved to solve his mazes, and he loved to draw some for me. I remember one evening, uncle Zack beat me for ruining one of his mazes; Jeremiah screamed at him that he made it especially for me to play, but he wouldn’t listen. He just wanted an excuse.”

“They mistreated Jeremiah too?”

“Not as much as me. Jeremiah is quieter and since he was smart they hoped he would actually have a good career and earn money so they would be able to leech off him. No, it wasn’t them who hurt him the most. It’s the other people. You remember what we said earlier about Reality TV? People in the circus thought they were superior to us in some ways, they loved to say how weird we were, because they felt better that way. But now, people won’t dare to think they’re superior to me anymore. Except maybe for you.”

His grip on Bruce tightened, but in a threatening way this time. Bruce swallowed hard, Jerome was scary indeed, but he had to control his fear.

“What makes you think that?”

“I see it in your eyes. You love to see me as a lowlife; but now I guess everyone is a low life compared to Bruce Wayne.”

“You really are a bad judge of character if you imagine I think that way!”

“So you don’t think you’re superior to me?”

“I’m neither inferior nor superior. Let’s say we’re equal.”

“Well…It’s true no one else here could be my equal but you.”

He remembered his mother’s words, then: flattery is the best way to blind someone. Was it one of Jerome’s methods to get him? He didn’t answer and closed his eyes.

“Jerome?”

“Yeah?”

“I told you about those names. I want you to tell me more about Tabitha Galavan, about what she wants and what she told you.”

Jerome smirked. “We’ll see.”

**O o O**

When Ecco came back to Jeremiah that evening, she immediately guessed something happened. He was on his computer, his eyes scanning the screen and it seemed like the end of the world couldn’t have made him loose focus.

“I met the woman, Tigress. I followed her, and guess what? She is…”

“Tabitha Galavan, Theo’s sister. I know, Jerome told me.”

“Actually, I was gonna say that she was working for Galavan. How does Jerome know her name?”

“Bruce guessed it, and Jerome made him talk.”

She sighed in frustration: she did all that for nothing! Getting in contact with her had taken days and following her hadn’t been easy! Jeremiah looked up at her and saw her annoyed look. He softened a bit at this, got away from is computer and started to make coffee for both of them.

“Don’t worry I would have needed you to get in touch with her anyway.”

He told him everything Jerome reported to him, from Galavan’s plan, to the name Bruce had been given, to the mysterious Tigress. “Jerome got him to admit Tabitha was his visitor. I intend to use her in order to get close to Galavan.”

This lessened the frustration. Ecco was pragmatic, she didn’t like to lose her time, it would have been really annoying to do that for nothing. But if meeting that woman was still useful, then she didn’t mind. Jeremiah handed her a cup of coffee while pouring another for himself. She gratefully took it, warming her cold hands.

“What are those names?”

“Maria Changeler and Peter Tobias. I checked plastic surgeon on Gotham; I found none of that name. It would be a clandestine one. I sent that woman, Jeri, to try to find them.”

“I have her number, I’ll call her.”

“You like to work with her, don’t you?”

“She is much more bearable than most cultists. They all constantly try to impress each other; having that competition of who is the craziest…Jeri is chiller, even if she is crazy too.”

“I know, they annoy me too. But that’s what makes them so easy to manipulate.”

They smiled to each other at this. Another question went through her head: “You know, when I met that Tabitha, I asked whether or not she could influence people, like brainwash them. Apparently, she could, she knows a lot of techniques for that. She won’t be easy to manipulate.”

Jeremiah nodded, that wouldn’t be easy indeed. “Tell me more about your encounter with her.”

Ecco nodded as they sat together to drink and talk, the events replaying in her head as she told him.

_Ecco knew Gotham’s underground life quite well, now, well enough to know a few addresses where it was possible to get interesting ‘contacts’. There was one bar in particular. It had taken her some observation through the streets of Gotham and some little grapevine talk to know that this average looking bar was a meeting place for thieves and assassins. Oh, you wouldn’t have guessed it at first. When you entered, you would see a room with normal people, some employees coming after works, couples or even some teenagers or families. But if you were observant enough, you would sometimes see someone taking a door in the back, a discreet door, and that person would come back only after a while. _

_Of course, if you wanted to go there, you had to ask the bar tender, you had to tell them you wanted to ‘see one of his employee’. He would tell you it was possible and then you could take the door. Ecco did exactly that. After descending the stairs, she came in the hidden part of the establishment. There was also a counter and tables here, but no windows. Funny, she had occasionally been into a similar place in the past, to propose her services as an assassin and thief, when Jeremiah and she needed money. It was almost fun to be the client searching for a hired killer somehow. _

_She asked the bar tender if the woman named Tigress was here. He showed her a tall black woman, dressed elegantly. Long hair and tight ponytail, just as Jerome described. Ecco sat face to face with her and Tigress looked surprised. _

_“So you’re the one you called me here? You’re young.”_

_Ecco had dropped her usual poker face a bit and tried to act a bit unsure. It would probably reassure that woman. “Is it unusual?”_

_“Quite.”_

_“One can have problems at any age. And I have a problem I need to get rid off. I can’t really explain why…”_

_“Professionals like me don’t ask for such things. The only questions I ask will be about the target and if you have the money.”_

_“I do.”_

_“Good. One half now, the other once the job is done. It’s as simple as that. So, tell me more about this problem.”_

_“I brought a picture.”_

_She showed him the picture of a businessman, a man Jeremiah had trouble with recently. At least this encounter would be useful in many ways. Tabitha didn’t ask why that guy had to die, as she said, she was a professional. Ecco gave her his name and address and gave her half of the money. _

_“Alright, I will take care of him.”_

_“While we’re at it, I also wanted to know more about you…”_

_“Kid, I don’t ask about your life, don’t ask about mine.”_

_“I’m not a kid, I’m twenty. And I’m not talking about your life, but about your abilities. Are you just a…” _

_“You can use the word ‘cleaner’.” Ecco couldn’t help but notice the way Tabitha looked at her all over. Seemed like this Tigress might have a thing for blonds. “Well, I’m not just that. I can also be an excellent thief, with or without victims, it’s as you wish.”_

_“And what if I needed information from someone? Or…What if I needed to have someone do something…I’m sorry, maybe I’m not clear enough?”_

_“You mean like breaking someone’s will? Brainswash them?”_

_Ecco acted as she was a bit intimidated by those words, still playing the spooked girl. “Oh, more like…Tricking them maybe.”_

_“Hum…That can be done, but honestly, brainwashing would bring much more results in my opinion. But now I know some people aren’t comfortable with it. Who would be that person?”_

_“Oh, it’s not really a thing for now, maybe I will be able to use other ways.”_

_“You’ll contact me if you need my services with that. Remember, the other half when the job is done. Give me a number where I can contact when it’s done.” _

_After giving her such number, Ecco stopped her as she was about to leave. “Wait, I had a last question.”_

_“Go ahead.”_

_“Can you explain me a bit more about that brainwashing thing?”_

_“It’s simple kid. I can do basic, simple manipulation on someone, things which won’t even be illegal. But I also can take things roughly. I can…Twist someone’s brain, without even damaging their body, and it can go from breaking their will to making them a conditioned slave. Is that clear enough?”_

_“Yes. Thanks a lot.” _

_They shook hands and Tabitha left her. Ecco left as well, and this time, she didn’t play the spooked lady anymore. She made sure to stay at a safe distance from her and started following the woman._

“I saw her coming back to Galavan’s penthouse, that’s how I get to the conclusion she worked for him. But if she is his sister, then, she probably knows a lot.”

“If she is that dangerous and tough, then her brother will never believe her to be anyone’s mole.”

“How are you gonna get to use her?”

“Well, when a good talk isn’t enough, chemical products can be a great help. It could be a good occasion to do some little tests…I might have an idea.”

**O o O**

The next morning, when he finally managed to get away from Jerome, he decided to try and go again to see Jonathan. He didn’t know if they would let him pass or not. Marina was with him again, she had hurriedly joined him after coming back from the toilets where she had locked herself with a guy. Both of them were happy at the prospect to see their friend. The guard didn’t let them through today.

“It was a one-time permission you got. You’re not allowed to go and see any other inmate today.”

“Why?”

“It’s the rules.”

“Is it Strange who decided of that or Jerome Valeska?”

The guard huffed: “Whichever decided, they surely got more power than you here.”

That was enough to make Bruce want to punch the guy. He forgot what Alfred had told him about counting to 3 in his head in order to keep calm.

“You realize you actually allowed a lunatic maniac to manipulate you!”

“It doesn’t matter what you think, kid. Here you are nothing but a prisoner like another. All your money can’t…”

“Is there a problem?” A female voice suddenly asked.

Bruce’s breath stopped as he recognized that voice. He turned around to see Dr Thompkins, wearing a white doctor robe. What?! When did she come back?! Now that she was here in front of him, he felt a different kind of fear.

Totally oblivious to what was really happening, the guard just replied that Bruce and Marina had nothing to do here.

“I will take care of them. Sorry for that.”

“You got nothing to be sorry for,” the guy replied with a lustful look.

She gently put an arm on Bruce’s shoulders and made him walk away with her. He didn’t dare to resist, thousand of questions were running through his head. Marina mumbled that she really wished to see Jonathan.

“I’ll see if can arrange that for you, you should be able to visit your friend indeed. Go back to the Common Room, Miss. I need to speak with Bruce.”

“Oh, you’re going to sleep together? I can participate…”

“No, it’s nothing like that. Just do as I said.”

Marina sheepishly complied. Lee silently led him to her new office and even though he died to break the silence, he couldn’t. What did she want? She surely thought he killed Gordon and hated him for it. Would she try to hurt him? He could defend himself but he didn’t want to hurt her. She closed the door and took him by the shoulders.

“Bruce, look at me in the eyes, and tell me what happened. Did you really do that?”

Hope bloomed in his chest as he heard those words. “I didn’t kill Jim, I swear.”

She looked at him intensely before nodding. “Okay…Okay.”

“Please, listen to me because I think I know what might have happened.”

She gave a nod and he started to tell everything about Galavan who wanted Wayne Enterprises, how he had discovered he had sent his niece to manipulate him and how said niece had given him names and those two words on a piece of paper, and his theory. Lee was slightly agape at the end of this. That was crazy to imagine such a ploy, especially against someone so young. But it was Gotham, a crazy and merciless city. And she could actually believe Bruce’s version much more than the official one.

“Please believe me, I could never do this!”

“Okay, I believe you.”

A part of her whispered that this boy was maybe crazy and in denial about what he did. It would be logical for Bruce to reinvent reality to try to erase his guilt. But on the other hand, she knew Bruce, he loved Gordon and had no reasons to kill him. And that theory of a fake Bruce was technically possible, the boy had been her patient for some times, and even if he had some issues with his parents’ death, he wasn’t demented. For now, she would believe in his innocence.

She gently took his hands and he squeezed those. “I know it must be very hard for you, but you have to hold on. Did you tell anyone about those names?”

“I told Alfred. He will try to do something.”

She promised herself she would visit him. “How do you feel about all this?”

“I’m angry. I just want to fight and it’s horribly frustrating because I don’t know how, I don’t know who did that, and it’s horrible to think they are somewhere, rejoicing, while Jim is dead and I’m here. And I want Jim to come back…”

He spoke to her openly, and it felt good. It was incredibly good to speak of what he felt with someone he could trust, someone who wouldn’t plot against him. He shook his head.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask how you feel too.”

“It wasn’t over between Jim and me, and yet the idea of knowing him dead is just…Dreading me. I’m wondering about everything, maybe it was a mistake to break up, I don’t know. All that is sure, is that I want to know who did that, what really happened. And I’m not leaving you here.”

He felt lighter, knowing he wasn’t as alone as before in Arkham.

**O o O**

Finding Selina hadn’t been easy for Alfred, he had spent the previous day searching for her after Silver’s visit, and it was only the next evening that he managed to finally sight her. After every stunt she and Bruce had pulled, after every time they found themselves in those streets, Alfred knew a few spots where he could find her, but the streets were still vast. At least, convincing her had been less difficult.

“Just so you know, I’m not exactly used to go and see illegal plastic surgeon. It will take Some times. You didn’t think of checking normal doctors?”

“I doubt any normal doctors got involved. It would be too dangerous for whoever did that.”

She didn’t want to talk about it to Alfred but she had been really worried and confused about all of this. Since what happened with her mother, she had been angry at Bruce, very angry. But no matter how furious she was, she couldn’t believe that Bruce could have killed Gordon, he looked up at the guy and always trusted him. But she had seen the video once and God did that guy look like Bruce. Someone getting surgery…The video was good enough to identify Bruce, but it wouldn’t have recorded something like little details after surgery.

“At least, I know where to go if I want to find one. How did you even heard of those people?”

“Miss St Cloud. She gave us those hints?”

“That little bitch?! And you believe her?”

“I don’t put too much hopes in her, this could be a trap. But I can’t just leave this unexplored, even if there is only a tiny chance.”

“So what, you think she feels remorse? Believe me, she is nothing but a…”

“Believe _me_, people can be surprising. They aren’t what they always seem to be.”

“Oh, where did you learn that? By opening doors and taking coats?”

“No, in the streets and in the army,” he replied, his jaw tight and his voice hard. “Years on the battlefield can teach you a lot, and you’re not the only around who had a rough childhood.”

She was a bit surprised at this. He went in the army? Maybe Bruce had mentioned it once, she didn’t remember. It was weird to imagine that stuck-up butler being a soldier, holding a gun and killing someone. And did he really live in the streets? She had a hard time believing that, not only she couldn’t imagine him young, but she would have thought he grew in some boring English village and in an equally boring house.

“Yeah, well, I still have doubts.” _And not only about Silver_.

“Doubt as much as you want, I’m not asking you to believe it one hundred percent. I still want to be sure, if she truly gave him hints, I can’t leave it unexplored.”

She shrugged. It wasn’t easy at all, Selina had to check with some of her ‘friends’ or ‘business partners’, but she eventually discovered who Maria Changeler was: a plastic surgeon who had been kicked out of the profession for financial wrongdoing. She had a clandestine cabinet now, and would have a lot of clients among criminals. Changeler was probably not even her real name, but at least, she was real and she was indeed a plastic surgeon.

“You got an address?”

“I just know the street she lives in. It shouldn’t be that hard to find her, then.”

“And nothing on that Tobias guy?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to ask Ms Changeler about it. I take a wild guess it could be the one who took Bruce’s place.”

She shrugged once more. As they arrived, they saw a street like any others. They started to search for what could be a hidden entrance when two guys walked toward them, looking at Selina in particular. They both looked around eighteen, not men yet but tall. They both looked already drunk and were laughing like idiots.

“Hey, sexy, wanna have a drink with us?” Asked the first one.

“I’ll pass,” Selina dryly replied.

“Come on, we’re two really nice guy, and we know how to…”

“I think she has been clear: she will pass,” Alfred declared, not liking their behavior one bit.

“She is a bit too young for you, grandpa! Come on, you’ll like us…”

He tried to grab but before could get a hold and before she could hit him, Alfred swiftly hit the guy in the throat and punched him violently in the chest, making him slam against the closest car. The other one went to attack him but Selina kicked him the crotch and Alfred just elbowed him in the head, making him fall. Selina gave him a hard kick in the head, knocking him out. Alfred turned back to the other one who was trying to find his balance by leaning against the car. He seized him and slammed him back against the car.

“Okay, let me tell you one thing: I don’t like guys who act like that with girls, and if you don’t want to finish like your friend, you’ll have to tell me something.”

“’Kay! Anything you want!”

Selina took out her knife and threatened him with it. “Remember you’d rather not lie, you freaking perv! We’re searching for a certain surgeon, Maria.”

“A plastic surgeon, she works in the street.”

“Y..Yeah, the third turn on the right, The entrance is right after the trash bin!”

“Good.”

Alfred punched him and let him fall on the floor. As they walked away, Selina looked back at the two.

“I could have handled them.”

“I was around, I wasn’t going to let them hurt you without moving. If we’re doing this together, we have to act as a team, remember that.”

“Chill out, old man. Look, it’s probably here.”

They easily found the entrance. It was open already. There was a stair leading down to another door. It was already slightly open. They pushed it and immediately stopped at what they saw. A woman was tied and gagged to the operation chair, and two people were in here. Before they could do something, a gun was pointed at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hesitate to comment and Merry Christmas to everyone!


	8. Dangerous Waters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was one hard chapter to write! Hope you’ll enjoy it, don’t worry, that story is far from over.

A gun was pointed at them!

“Ecco! Stop it, it’s Alfred!”

The blond woman holding the gun seemed surprised and Alfred was completely stunned. Jeremiah! What the hell?! Selina was gaping, confused and baffled. She had never met him before, and it was weird to see someone looking so much like Jerome while being so different. That face was exactly the same, but the vibe was at the opposite of his twin!

“Jeremiah? What are you doing?” Asked Alfred as the redhead came at his level.

“The same thing as you, I guess. I’m trying to help Bruce, Jerome told me about the names.”

He was about to ask how the hell Jerome could know about those, but his eyes went on the tied woman again. She was on the operation chair, restrained with tape around her wrists and feet. “What did you do to her?”

“We didn’t hurt her, not yet. She tried to escape when we started to ask questions,” Ecco simply answered. “I made sure she wouldn’t run anymore, and now we’re going to make sure she is going to talk.”

Usually, Alfred wouldn’t be one to approve torture, but if Bruce’s safety was at stake, he would definitely make an exception. That woman was one of the people who plotted to have Gordon killed and send Bruce in Arkham! He approached her threateningly. Next to her was her usual material, a lot of shiny and sharp things. A big lamp was also next to the chair.

“Do you know who I am?”

She shook her head in fear. He turned the lamp to the light right into her eyes. She squirmed in pain and closed her eyes. “It doesn’t really matter anyway, you won’t talk about what will happen here if you have a brain. I see you have a lot of interesting instruments. I’m not a doctor myself, so you’ll have to excuse my clumsiness when I’ll use those to make you talk.”

“Oh, I could teach you a few things,” Ecco murmured as Maria reopened her eyes in fear in spite of the blinding light. “ And he is a perfect opportunity for us to practice together.”

“That’s very delicate of you. But maybe the lady here would like to have a chat with us first.”

He took off the gag and Ecco put a scalpel under her eye after warning her not to scream. The woman just breathed raggedly, terrified by what was happening. “First question: Where is Peter Tobias?”

“Listen, they will kill me if I talk!”

“And what do you think we are gonna do if you don’t? Speak now, and you’ll have a chance to run,” Ecco stated.

“Where is Tobias? Or do you want this charming lady to give me my first lesson about removing layers of skin?”

“No, please! I’ll tell you everything I know! I don’t know where he lives but there was a tall black woman, she paid me cash for every operation, it wasn’t made in one go.”

Tabitha Galavan…Jeremiah approached as well. “I guess you have a file about him.”

“Yes! It’s hidden under the last drawer of my desk.” Before Jeremiah could go, Selina already started to search for it. Alfred went on: “Don’t tell me you never heard any detail about his place.”

“Hum…I remembered once, he said he was tired to stay all day in a tiny and dark flat. The woman had told him to shut up. He sounded like a street kid.”

“Hey, here! I found it!” Selina exclaimed. Jeremiah and she started to read it. There were pictures of peter Tobias and of Bruce, of course a lot of medical information, but no address or number. But at least, they had a picture. “We can still find him with that,” Jeremiah murmured. “Do you know who could help us?”

“I have some contacts,” Selina replied, “I don’t guarantee anything, though.”

They continued to interrogate Maria, but soon understood she didn’t know much indeed. Jeremiah eventually injected her with something to make her sleep. Alfred was a bit disappointed, a picture wasn’t much. “We have to call Bullock.”

“Are you kidding? We need to find Tobias before giving her to the cops! She will deny everything and we’ll get arrested for assault! Even that file wouldn’t be enough of a proof,” Jeremiah reminded him.

“What are we gonna do about her in the meantime?”

“I’ll call someone I know. They’ll keep an eye on her, don’t worry,” Ecco suggested.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Asked the redhead, pulling his worried scientist act. She just nodded and they left the place while Ecco called for her ‘friend’. They would keep Maria alive indeed, after all, she could have some use in the future. As they got out, Alfred immediately asked the question which burned his lips.

“Jeremiah, how did you get those names? Bruce gave you those too?”

“Nah, Jerome did.”

Alfred got a cold shiver once he heard this. If Jerome knew, it could be bad! “How does Jerome knows about all this?”

“From what he told me, Bruce had let this little list fall from his pocket.”

This reanimated the anger Alfred felt toward Jerome, knowing that this maniac was tormenting his boy. And that anger was also directed toward Jeremiah, because he was listening to his twin without questioning him. “I doubt he obtained it like that. Do you know that your brother is currently harassing Bruce? I don’t know what he wants with him but if I learn that…”

“Do you seriously think I can control my brother? He loves me, but he will never allow me to control his life. But let me tell you that if I didn’t ask him to spare Bruce, things would be way worse. If Jerome contains whatever urges he has toward Bruce, it’s out of love for me. But don’t expect him to be nice.” And it was actually true. Alfred didn’t reply immediately, and it was obvious that he was regretting his words.

“Alright…I’m sorry, I should have remembered that you also endured a lot.”

Selina put herself before the two of them. “Hey, that’s all good, but can we start searching, now?” She didn’t want to say it aloud but hearing what Alfred just said about Bruce being harassed by Jerome was like a punch in the guts. Of course she knew that Bruce was certainly not having it easy in Arkham (even though she knew he could defend himself), but imagining that psycho preying on him was really alarming! The boy had toughened up when he had lived with her in the streets, but a guy like Jerome Valeska was still dangerous, he was a feared name even among the mob.

“I have a few contacts, maybe they’ll be able to help,” Ecco replied. “I guess you have some too?”

She only nodded, worried and frustrated. If things continued like this, she would have to make Bruce escape herself! But that wouldn’t innocent him. They spent the next hours reaching different people, but they didn’t obtain much, until one man told them he had seen that guy working at a little store once. He wasn’t an employee here anymore, but his previous boss gave them an address. They would walk there, it was close by.

On their way, Selina looked at the strange blond woman with Jeremiah. She and Alfred had been chilling with Maria, but at least she knew Alfred a bit (although she realized she had some false ideas about him). That woman was unknown to her and she wanted to fix that. She started to walk at her side.

“Is your name really Ecco?”

“Does that really matter?” She replied without looking back at Selina.

“I like to know who I work with.”

“A woman who won’t hesitate to kill. That’s much more important than my name,” she replied on a cold, but non-threatening tone.

“I guess,” Selina gave in, a bit uneasy at her cold behavior. “Is that a threat?”

“No. Merely a statement, I don’t threaten people around for no reason. I use violence when it’s a necessity.”

“And you’re doing this because…”

“I’m Jeremiah’s friend and business partner.”

“Have you grown up in the streets?”

“As a homeless girl, you mean?” Selina nodded. “No, on contrary, I grew in a wealthy but…Strict family, to say the least.”

“The mob?”

Ecco’s collected face showed a hint of a surprise. “Good guess.”

“How did you meet Jeremiah?”

“In school, when we were kids. Why all those questions?” Asked she on that same cold tone which had no hostility, though.

“As I said, we might have to work together, if you and Jeremiah also want to help Bruce. So I’d rather know a bit more about you. You don’t seem to be really curious to know who we are, though.”

“I know who you are. Alfred here is Bruce’s guardian, and you’re Selina, the girl he had a flirt with. You know, even if I’m not very close to Bruce, I already met him. And I heard some conversation he had with Jeremiah, sometimes he would speak of you.”

This was enough to shock Selina a bit. She didn’t like the idea of a stranger knowing much about her! Bruce, what the hell did he do?! “What did he say about me?”

Ecco gave her a tiny grin: “Chill out. He said you were a street girl who witnessed the murder of his parents, you became friends afterward. Now, I can’t say for sure whether you’re acting out of friendship or romantic feelings, but you’re here because of the bonds between the two of you. For now, I know enough. I’ll learn the rest otherwise.”

“How?”

Ecco stopped walking and looked at her. Weirdly, that poker face was maybe more scary than an angry one. She was used to people being threatening and angry, but this unreadable face, that was unusual. The young woman replied: “You know what? As a sign of good intention, I’ll tell you: observation, simply. That’s what I do. People’s actions and little facial expression reveal much more about them than their words. People can lie after all. I’ll simply observe you.”

“I admit that’s a good way to know more about someone. But I do know when people lie.”

“Really? Then when did I lie?”

Selina frowned in confusion and Ecco grinned again. “I lied twice, and I omitted something. When did I do that?”

Completely taken aback, Selina realized what kind of game Ecco was playing. And she ran right into it! Angry at Ecco and also at herself, she gritted her teeth: “Well, my questions allowed me to know that you’re a manipulator.”

“I never denied such a thing. Go ahead, tell me when I lied and when I omitted something.”

“You could be lying about lying.”

“That’s true. So?”

She started walking again as she saw Alfred and Jeremiah were starting to take distance. Although she was still angry, Selina was also deadly curious.

“I’d say you lied when you said you grew up in the mob, and when you said you met Jeremiah in school when you were kids. I think you did grew up in the streets. And you omitted some things about what Bruce told Jeremiah about me.”

Ecco chuckled: “Sorry, girl. You didn’t exactly get it, you’re only right about the mob. But then, maybe I’m lying right now. You should do as I say and observe me. I’m gonna observe you, so you shouldn’t deprive yourself of doing the same with me.”

She didn’t really like it, she didn’t like the way that girl could make her doubt and feel uncertain. Yet she had to admit there was something about her, she wasn’t a green girl, and she would couldn’t help but be intrigued. She would know more about her. They reached the building, but they found Tobias’s place empty, no one lived here anymore. Either the guy was dead, or he was good at hiding.

**O o O**

That night, Jerome woke up after a nightmare. He dreamed he was a child again, and that his mother and Zack had killed Jeremiah, put his head in the soup and wanted him to drink it. He hated whenever he would dream about them. He released a growl as he woke up and started realize it was just a nightmare. Then, a soft sound beside him made him open his eyes and he smirked.

Bruce’s face was really alluring like that. He was gorgeous, his expression peaceful but still serious, almost solemn…And he was so close! They were sleeping in each other’s arms, and it was good to have the embrace returned. Was it because Bruce was feeling sorry for him? Maybe. Or maybe it was because he was cold. Yeah, there was high probability for that. He was breathing peacefully, Jerome could have just strangled the brat, broke his neck, or hit him with the closest object…It was thrilling to think that he had the kid’s life in his hand. It was that thrill he felt when he murdered someone, but this time, he didn’t want to kill, not for now, at least. Yet he had some satisfaction imagining how he could kill him.

He wished it lasted for long, but it didn’t. Bruce woke up early, acted cold (little bastard was still too proud to admit he liked being in his arms), and went away to visit his stupid friend, Jonathan. It really annoyed Jerome to know they were together in a confined cell. He was sure that stupid Crane twink would do everything to make Bruce soften and the brat would probably fall for it! If anything as such happened, he would definitely make Jonathan pay, and Bruce too! Except for Jeremiah, he wouldn’t allow someone else to have him.

Bruce would have been horrified if he had known what Jerome was thinking about, but for now, all he had in mind was his new plan, which consisted in establishing whether or not Strange was working with Galavan. Yesterday, Alfred phoned him and told him they found Maria but not Peter Tobias, and they didn’t have enough proof for now. He had a session this morning with Hugo, he wanted to talk to him about Jonathan. The boy wasn’t feeling well at all in confinement, he was even more scared than in the Common Room.

“I know you and Mr Valeska are in some sort of relationship?”

That was an embarrassing question, but Bruce wanted to get on Strange’s good side for Jonathan’s sake. Anyway, he still had to give him the bone to chew. “…um, yeah. Although I don’t know if you can really call it like that.”

“Yet, I know there is bad blood between the two of you. How is that?”

“Well…I can’t really explain myself. I don’t know, there is something with him that makes me feel better.”

“Does it help you to mourn to be around him?”

“I don’t know…” Bruce frowned. “Wait, you believe I’m innocent?”

“It would be hard, Bruce. But the fact you killed Jim Gordon doesn’t mean you can’t grieve.”

Of course…Strange titled his head: “Bruce, can we talk about that? About what you did to Jim Gordon.”

“I don’t want to talk about Jim yet. I didn’t kill him, that’s all.”

Strange seemed surprised and noted something. Bruce wondered what it was. Really, he had to know what Strange’s thoughts and plans about him were.

“I’d rather talk about Jerome for now. I know what he expect from me…I just don’t really know what I want from him,” he said.

“Well, did you ever question your sexuality? Society tends to make us think we’re all made for heterosexuality, but it’s not necessarily the case. You had girlfriends?”

“Yes. I like girls, but I’m intrigued at the idea of something happening between me and Jerome…We already kissed, and I was fine with it. But the worse is, we have a past, I should be repulsed. Why am I not?”

Did he say too much? He didn’t want to be too personal with Strange but it was the truth.

“Well, sometimes we are attracted to what is the most destructive and dangerous for us. It’s the old attraction/repulsion.”

That session with Strange was short, but it left Bruce full of questions about Jerome and the doctor. At least, he convinced Strange to let Jonathan out, promising he would keep an eye on him. He would have to talk to Lee as soon as possible, she would probably be able to help him with his plan. He was in the Common Room but isolated himself as much as possible. He didn’t want to talk, he needed to think. He was given meds, just like everyone, but discretely hid those like he did every day. He didn’t want those things in him.

“You know it’s forbidden. What a waste to throw away meds!”

“You do that too, Jerome.”

The redhead laughed and sat with him, only to have the teen look away. He didn’t like that, he wanted Bruce to look at him. Maybe he was playing hard to get. Slowly, Jerome ran his fingers up his arm and toward his neck, intending to grab his chin. Bruce swatted his fingers away before he could do that.

“What’s wrong? You and Jonathan had such good time you’re grumpy to be away from him?”

“You’re stupid.”

“Come on Bruce,” he murmured on soft and threatening tone. “You should be nicer with me, you know that.”

“Keep your threats for you! I want to be alone.”

“We’re never alone, here!” He exclaimed while theatrically extending his arms with a huge smile which would have crept anyone out. But Bruce just sighed in annoyance, unfazed. Jerome let his arms drop, and slightly shook his head, disappointed but also charmed somehow. Once again, he just enjoyed the challenge Bruce Wayne was. 

“You really can’t be tamed, can you?”

“You’re seriously trying to tame me?”

“Nah, I’m wilder than anyone here, so I appreciate another one like me. I would rather try to bargain with you.” He passed his arms around him, hugging him from behind and put his mouth near Bruce ear before whispering: “Are you like this because you’re preparing something?”

“…What if I was?”

“Well, it could be entertaining. Go ahead, tell me, after all, I won’t denounce you, it’s not in my interest to see you in solitary confinement. However if you don’t tell me…”

Bruce huffed. “You can’t tame me, so instead you try to blackmail me?”

“Well, blackmail is efficient. But with you, I’d rather not do this. Don’t make me go to that length, Bruce.”

“Once again: keep your threats for you.”

“Hum…Fine. Let’s try something else: whatever you’re preparing, doing it alone could be difficult. You might need help, a lot of it.”

“Even if it was something like getting in Strange’s office?”

Jerome smiled widely again. That was a challenge! “I know how to get in here. Of course, you would need to convince me.”

“How?”

“Use your imagination…”

Bruce huffed and got out of his hold. “Do you seriously think I would accept that?”

The redhead laughed loudly. “Nah, it was just a little joke to make you shiver…” He continued on a lower voice. “No, but I want us to do that together and work as a real team…What you want to look at in here, I want to look at it as well…”

“No.”

“Too bad for you.”

With a little smirk, Jerome started walking away. Bruce tightened his lips, he knew he couldn’t let Jerome read his file, and yet, there was probably something he could do. He had managed to get Jerome to ‘like’ him, but he hadn’t been really able to use it yet. He spent some times away from him, preparing, looking around and planning. When the evening approached, he went after Jerome and took his arm once he caught up with him. The redhead turned to him and gave him a smug grin.

“Did you change your mind?”

“No. I have something else to suggest you. Can we talk alone?”

“Hum…Why not?”

He followed Bruce to his room and it was only when they were together that Bruce started to explain: “I want to suggest you a bet. Let’s say, if I can enter Strange’s office without your help, you’ll do something for me. However, if I can’t I will do something for you.”

“Like what?”

Bruce shrugged. “That’s up to you to figure out. But let me warn you, not anything like killing or hurting someone!”

“Oh, you take the fun out of it. Well…In our situation, Bruce, that doesn’t leave much…”

With that, he put a finger on his chest and let it ran up to his neck. The teen didn’t answer anything at all. If Jerome asked for that, what would he do? He tried to imagine what it would be like. He was as scared as he was fascinated by the idea. With no warning, Jerome kissed him and Bruce gave in, allowing his hands to stroke Jerome’s back and neck. They got on the bed, the teen was trembling slightly as Jerome laid him down, still kissing him. Jerome was amazed Bruce allowed that, he was perfectly aware the kid could break his bone or broke skin if he wanted to. Instead, Bruce responded, kissing him in that gentle way which was strangely enjoyable. They kissed like that several times, hardly parting more than a few seconds before going on.

As they took their breath back, Bruce turned his head and Jerome was surprised to feel the teen’s lips on his neck. He tensed slightly and a huff of astonishment passed through his lips. Bruce was doing that! He embraced him more tightly, and enjoyed the shivers it brought in him. He was a good kisser, he didn’t think it be possible to be gentle and fiery at the same time, but Bruce proved him the contrary. It was something weird and new, different from the usual touch he experienced; usually there was excitement and pleasure, but it was…Almost clinical in some way. He would have what he wanted, do his business and no more. Here…There was something new, something he couldn’t touch, but it wasn’t just physical. It was quite incredible that an inexperienced kid could make him feel that way.

Jerome started to slightly buck his hips and this made Bruce moan both in surprise and pleasure. What the hell?! The redhead over him did it again and again, and the boy’s blush intensified. Yet when Jerome kissed him again, he responded with equal intensity. The redhead laughed in his mouth before parting.

“Don’t be so shy, Bruce. You want it too.”

He couldn’t answer, but he wouldn’t have known what to say. He found the strength to shake his head: “I’m not ready for that.”

Jerome’s lips tightened and then descended on Bruce’s neck, kissing and nipping. Bruce jerked up a bit but his hold tightened soon and he bucked his hips along. Those lips could almost make him forget where he was. Jerome’s hands went to his pants but Bruce stopped him immediately. Growling, the redhead’s mouth went at his ear: “Give me your hand, then.”

Seizing the boy’s right hand before he could answer, Jerome made it slid in his own pants. Bruce blushed again when he realized what he was touching. He didn’t protest though, because even though he was shy, there was something quite fascinating about it. He couldn’t help but listen to Jerome’s moan and sighs, almost entranced. He was the one who drove someone in such a state, and someone like Jerome…Someone who tried to kill him. He felt weird, as if his mind was opening his eyes on something, just like the time the redhead had violently bit his neck. It had been like seeing a part of Jerome’s mind, but this time, it wasn’t painful.

That night, he had a hard time sleeping. It hadn’t been further than Jerome using his hand, and yet he felt really weird. A part of him felt dirty, but he didn’t really regret that. He didn’t know why, but there had been something enjoyable seeing that boy who was such a manipulator loosing himself because of him, like anyone human. To know he could do that to him…

The next morning, Jerome tried to make him do that again, but Bruce pushed him away, he wasn’t in the mood anymore. He went in the Common Room instead and joined Marina and was pleased to see Jonathan with her. The teen looked anxious but relaxed a bit when he saw Bruce.

“Hey!”

“Hey. You’re better?”

“Yeah, I’m better off with the two of you, I don’t like being in confinement. I saw the scarecrow many times, you don’t even imagine!”

He knew that, his friend told him. They spoke a bit, and when he felt no one would hear them, Bruce decided himself: “Guys, I need you with something.”

He had understood quickly what the biggest obstacle to his plan would be. It wasn’t entering Strange’s office, but the camera recording the activity in Arkham. He would have to make sure no one would be able to record him. He had been able to walk around a bit, and had seen some failure in the electric system and in the surveillance too. There were several blind spots he would ba able to use. If he could make sure there would be an electric cut for at least some minutes…His friends accepted to help him, he remained vague about what he wanted to do, the less they knew, the better for all of them.

Bruce had noticed one blind spot near one electrical panel in the wind where Strange s office was situated. They would be able to use that. Marina would distract the potential security guards around while Jonathan and he would go to that blind spot and cut out the electricity. Bruce gave him some instructions on how to proceed. Then, he would be able to enter Strange’s office while he was in the lab. He would then get in. But for that, he still needed one thing. He made sure he ran into Strange as he was going toward the lab.

“Sir, I wanted to thank you.”

The man seemed agreeably surprised as he heard those words. “For what, Bruce?”

“For Jonathan. He is really happy to be back with us, and I’m happy to see him as well.”

He gave the teen one of those smiles which was impossible to tell whether or not those were genuine. “Well, my patients’ well-being is definitely a priority.”

Bruce definitely didn’t believe that, but it didn’t matter. The most important was that he had managed to slide his hand in Strange’s pocket and stole his office’s key. He smirked as the electricity went off a few minutes later. Arkham being what it was, it didn’t astonish anyone much here, it wasn’t the first kind it happened. Some patients panicked or got excited at this. He was pretty sure he heard some of them howl. Bruce sneaked away quickly, checking no one was around. He closed the door behind him and found his file easily. His gut tightened at this: what was written in this?

He read it and saw that Strange considered him as depressive and delusional, unable to face his guilt so much that he had transformed reality. He had noted Bruce’s defiance and wondered if he wasn’t suffering from some form of paranoia. Seemed like Strange truly considered him as crazy. But what if he was? What if he really did kill Jim Gordon and was indeed in denial…No, it made no sense, he had no reason to kill Gordon, he was innocent, he knew it! Then, he held his breath as he read a name: Galavan. What?! What the hell was he doing in his file?

_Mister Galavan wants an evaluation on Bruce Wayne’s psyche, to know whether or not the boy is in the right state of mind to sell his company, and he also seem to think he is faking mental illness. While it could be possible, it seems unlikely to me. I will still keep that possibility in mind, though I’m pretty sure Mister Wayne is indeed deluded._

Of course, Galavan still wanted his company, but he couldn’t buy it from a lunatic, people running Wayne Enterprises while I was in here would contest it easily. But wait, why send him in Arkham in the first place, then? He quickly put his file back in the last drawer where he had found it. He saw Jerome’s file as well and was tempted to read it, but restrained himself: it was big and he didn’t have time. Yet he looked out for another name, he had an intuition and thought about it a lot: who would accept to have his face completely changed and murder a man in spite of all the risks it included…Either someone who had been forced, or someone who had lost sense of reality.

His heart almost stopped when he saw the name: Peter Tobias. He used to be a patient here! He quickly read the file, and saw something interesting: That wasn’t his birth name, he had changed it. His real name was Adrian Bates, and it seemed like this guy had changed his name only recently. Okay...If his friends tried to search for him, they would probably have more results looking for someone named Adrian, not Peter. Hell, in fact, he could try to get some info about him, maybe some people remembered him!

He read his address and memorized it. He wouldn’t be able to read everything; apparently, the guy was schizophrenic and easy to manipulate, a submissive personality. He looked at his picture before quickly putting the file back. They didn’t really look like each other much, but they had the same kind of traits. They probably looked for someone with the same bone structure and weak enough to be manipulated.

He stepped out of Strange’s office, checking out that no one was watching and closed the door. He let the key fell down and left as Lee entered the corridor. She went and picked up the keys. Now, she would go to Strange and tell him she had found his keys on the ground, so he wouldn’t suspect anything. Meanwhile, Bruce would go to the Common Room and hope that Jonathan and Marina would be okay.

He thought of what he had read. Galavan had contacted Strange…Why did he send him here? He could have simply sent him in prison and find someone to manipulate him here. Or maybe he wanted Jerome to do it specifically? Or maybe that wasn’t part of his plan? After all, Galavan didn’t have control over everything! Maybe he had planned for Bruce to go to jail but then, the boy had been sent to Arkham, and now he had to act according to it. After all, even the best plan could meet some unwanted changes.

He started to understand what Galavan had planned now: Jerome would manipulate him into selling the company and confess that he did simulate insanity, and then Strange would be able to testify that he had faked being mentally ill, to avoid legal issues. But why not asking Strange to manipulate him as well? Maybe Theo feared that Strange would blackmail him later. Asking Strange a certificate to testify whether or not Bruce was mentally ill so he could sell his company wasn’t illegal. At least, it seemed that Strange didn’t know about that plot.

And that guy, renamed Peter Tobias…Why didn’t Silver give him his real name? But maybe she didn’t know his real name. After all, Silver had been most likely a pawn into her uncle’s game. Her knowledge about this was surely limited.

He saw Marina and Jonathan were doing fine and he was relieved. He felt guilty for getting them into this, but if he had calculated everything correctly, they shouldn’t be discovered.

“It all went well,” Jonathan told him. You got what you wanted?”

“What is it you were doing?” Marina wondered

“It’s really better if you stay out of it. Anyway it should be the last time I ask that out of you.” He looked at Jonathan. “No one bothered you?”

“No, the usual bullies stayed back, it seems like you scare them.” He smiled a bit “It was quite exciting to do that, you know, breaking some rules and all!”

They continued to speak a bit and Bruce eventually went to the nursery where Lee was working. They spoke in a low voice, careful not to be heard by anyone.

“Strange didn’t seem to suspect anything, at least it seems so. So, you got what you needed?” Asked she

“I did.” He summed it up to her in a low voice what he found. While he didn’t want Marina and Jonathan to know too much, he could talk to Lee.

“You know, maybe Galavan did want you to get here, after all, if Jerome was to talk about his arrangement with Galavan, who would believe him? He is a psycho.”

He nodded, it was indeed a possibility, but in any case, he knew what Galavan wanted to do.

“You know, Bruce, there might be a possibility that this Adrian Bates is dead. After all, it would be the best for Galavan to kill.”

Hell, that was indeed possible! If all he could find was a corpse…Well at least he would be able to give the police his ‘twin’ but maybe he wouldn’t be able to find that corpse… “I have to tell Alfred about all that.”

“I can do it for you, I’ll go and see him that evening once I’m done working…And what do you intend to do about Jerome?”

“I can handle him. Could you keep an eye on Strange, though?”

“I’m already doing that. For now, it doesn’t seem like he has plans for you, but he is watching you and Jerome a lot.”

“I know, apparently, we’re intriguing to him.”

“Not only to him, I hear a lot of people talking about it. Bruce, you must be very careful with Jerome. Remember that he is a good manipulator, he doesn’t want to help you, he will just use you one way or another.”

“I know…But I can’t avoid him anyway, so I’d rather control the situation as well as I can. Could you just…Not tell Alfred about it? I don’t want him to worry more than that.”

Even to her, he wouldn’t tell everything, especially what happened last night. She accepted, she was pretty sure it was just also usual teenage behavior; it was pretty usual at this age to have some secrets from parental figures. But anyway it was maybe better not to tell Alfred too much about it.

As he went back to his cell, Lee’s words were still on his mind, and he decided it would be better not to talk about Peter Tobias/ Adrian Bates to Jerome, at least not right away. Maybe a little test could be good, but how could he test Jerome Valeska? Maybe Jeremiah could help? He found him again in his room, Jerome was already waiting for him in here. He was lying on the bed, with his arms under his head. He smiled to Bruce.

“Ha, Darling!”

“The guards must really like you,” Bruce observed. “I need an authorization to visit someone in confinement when you can go into other people’s room as you wish!”

“I have good friends. I must congratulate you for winning your bet.”

What the hell?! “How do you know?”

“I have my ways.”

Angry again, Bruce rushed to him, straddled him and pinned his arms down, holding those tight. Jerome huffed in surprise and was even stunned as he realized it wouldn’t be easy to free himself from his grasp. But it wasn’t as if he was eager to get away from the teen.

“Answer! Or I swear you’ll get out of here bleeding!”

“…If you jump on me each time I have a secret for you, it will just give me a good reason to hide a lot from you!”

“You want a broken nose?!”

“Okay, Tiger, chill out! One of my friends was hiding in the toilets near Strange’s office, you probably didn’t notice that the door was barely open, but that was enough for her to see you. She saw you getting in here. That was enough.”

“I told you to stop spying on me!”

“You seriously thought I would listen?”

Bruce rolled his eyes and got off of him, much to Jerome’s disappointment. But he would come back, anyway. Patience wasn’t Jerome’s biggest quality, but he knew he would need some with Bruce. He observed the boy as he drank from the little sink. Practicing martial arts had given him a nice form…

“Some more muscles would be good on you, though I appreciate a lean stance.”

“How do you know about my muscles? You never saw me shirtless.”

“I wouldn’t mind! And may I remind you I hugged you a lot, it’s pretty efficient to know someone’s body. But now, let’s get to the most important: you won your bet. What is it you want? My body, maybe?”

The boy gave him an unfazed expression: “If I wanted it, I have a feeling I wouldn’t need to bargain. I will use that favor later, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, I guess you will have time to think about it, and don’t worry, I won’t forget, I’m not that kind of guy. By the way, I will hold on to my promise as well.”

“What promise?”

He smirked and took him by the wrist gently to pull him closer. He wasn’t brutal, but there was something possessive in that gesture.

“You remember when I was mad at you because you thought I accepted to kill you for some guy? Well, I told you I would find this guy and give you his head on a plate. Well, I still intend to do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you’re wondering, Bruce and Jerome didn’t have sex yet, it was just some touching. That was definitely not easy to write, but I really liked it, especially the part between Ecco and Selina. Don’t hesitate to review!


	9. Tyger, Tyger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! That chapter is longer than most, and I hope you'll like it.

Once Alfred learned by Lee that Peter Tobias’s real name was Adrian Bates, he immediately contacted Selina and Jeremiah. They all gathered in his flat, Ecco was here as well, listening silently. He poured tea for all of them, even Selina accepted to have some. She wasn't super fond of it, but it was cold out there and something warm to drink was welcome. 

“So, that would explain why we had difficulty to find him,” Jeremiah breathed out as lfred finished his explanation. "I hope Bruce didn't take too much risks.;"

“That still doesn’t tell us where he is,” Selina pointed out.

“No, but it could give us a lead, if we have a name we can find people close to him,” he reminded her.

“I might have an idea,” Selina said before turning to Ecco: “And I could need your help.”

“…As you wish.”

“What do you intend to do?” Asked Alfred.

“Go through some people I know,” she simply replied.

“I might need you anyway, Alfred. I want to learn more about Galavan. Maybe you could lend me a hand in that. We should all meet again tomorrow, and see what we gathered.”

“I’ll give you a call if things didn’t go as planned,” Ecco concluded.

She followed Selina out and sternly asked: “Who are we gonna see?”

“A friend of mine. She could help us.”

“You’re lying.”

Selina cursed herself mentally and reluctantly admitted: “Okay, I just wanted to try. It’s a girl indeed, but she’s not a friend. Her name is Silver St Cloud. She is the one who gave Bruce the names. I suspect that bitch has some hidden intention, and I’m pretty sure she could tell us more. And since you seem to be good with liars…”

“She probably has hidden intention. But maybe not against us. There is only one way to know."

There was no difficulty getting around Galavan's flat where Silver lived. However, breaking in would have been dangerous and they needed to get the girl at a moment when she would be alone. For that, they found a much simpler solution: they waited the moment when she would go to school. It was a beautiful building, in appearance, nothing would have made you thought a monster lived here. But now, the Devil's greatest trick was to make people believe he didn't exist. In her uniform, Silver descended to the parking lot, taking the stairs as the elevator was apparently blocked that morning. The stairs were well enlightened, but she didn't really like it, she didn't like to go to the parking lot. Since she lived with her uncle and aunt, she had a good idea of what could happen in a parking lot. _Calm down, it's not as you risked much_. But while she was getting down, someone suddenly appeared before her as she almost reached her destination: a blond young woman. As she was about to pass beside her; the woman blocked her and Silver noticed the gun in her hand.

"Hi."

The girl tried to back up but someone behind her stopped her and she turned her head to see that street-girl who was Bruce's friend. And she had a knife in her hand...

"Remember me, bitch?"

Silver was unable to talk, she looked back at Ecco who pulled on her arm, made her get down the stairs and pushed her against the closest corner.

"What do you want?!"

"Don't talk that loudly! Now, I don't like to use violence needlessly..."

"It doesn't bother me," Selina interrupted.

"Well, for now let's try to discuss nicely: we know what your uncle did to Bruce Wayne. And we want you to..."

"I'm not telling you anything! And I won't do anything for you!" Her voice was determined but there was a twinge of fear under it.

Selina smirked, almost happy that Silver wasn't cooperating: "Loyal to your pain-in-the-ass of an uncle? I'm not surprised. Why did you gave Bruce the names, is it part of your game?"

"He told you..." Fear grew in her voice and expression and Ecco narrowed her eyes.

Showed her the knife threateningly, Selina went on: "Oh yeah, he did. I know you didn't do that for him, so you'd rather tell us what you have in mind if you don't want to..."

"I don't care what you'll do, I'm not talking! You have no idea what will happen to you if you do anything to me!"

Huffing, the street-girl had to admit she wasn't completely deprived of courage, but she would break that easily. "Well then you're stupider than I..."

Ecco put a gentle but firm hand on Selina's wrist to prevent any move, interrupting the girl in the process. She titled her head on the side, watching their target: "We won't need to use torture. You know, getting infos can be tricky, however, spreading some rumors is easy. What if your family knew a little blond girl gave Bruce Wayne some names? Or better: you wrote those in a book and gave it to Alfred Pennyworth, didn't you? It would be bad if it fell into their hands."

At this, Silver's face paled and she had a slight spasm; it was no doubt to Ecco anymore: the girl didn't act according to her uncle's wish out of loyalty but because she was terrified by him. Even Selina started to change her opinion when she saw this: she still didn't like her but it seemed like she feared her uncle more than she thought.

"What do you want?"

"We want infos too. Where is Adrian Bates?"

Silver frowned in obvious confusion: "Who?"

"The guy supposed to be called 'Peter Tobias," Selina declared.

"I didn't know he had another name. But I don't know where he is and neither does my uncle nor my aunt, I swear! They promised him they would give money and a second face change but it was a lie of course. Killing him was simpler, but somehow he guessed they would do that. My aunt went to met him to pay him..."

"With a bullet in the head I guess," Selina snorted.

"Yeah. But he wasn't here. So we don't know what happened, she tried to know what became of him, but she didn't find anything. They think he is hiding, my aunt is still searching for him. I swear it's the truth."

Ecco nodded and watched her attentively: "Silver, what do _you_ want? Yes, you're living a rich life, but you're also prisoner right now. Don't you have anywhere else to go?"

"Not really. But anyway, if my uncle knows I spoke to you..."

"He'll kill you."

"No. He said that if I disobeyed him, I would end up in the worse underground brothel of Gotham, and that if I was to get out of here, I wouldn't even be able to talk normally anymore."

Indeed that was a big threat, both Selina and Ecco had an idea of what life was like for those prostitutes. But then... "Why did you take that risk for Bruce?" Asked Selina, feeling a bit of pity for her in spite of everything.

"I was pretty sure no one would discover, that he wouldn't tell my uncle. I...I do like him, he is someone good and since his parents' death his life went wrong, just like me. And maybe...It was crazy but I kinda hoped that something would happen."

"That your uncle would be defeated?"

She sighed, looking abnormally tired for someone her age. "It was a stupid hope. If you really want to know more about him, then it's his laptop you need. There are probably tons of proof in it, but of course it's well protected, you won't steal it or hack it easily. But if you're smart, you'll stay out of it."

"Why? You said monsters always win. In that case, I have my chances," Ecco replied naturally. "Anything else?"

Silver hesitated: "There is something more to it. My family's real name is Dumas. My uncle isn't doing this only out of cupidity, there is also bad blood between our family and the Waynes...Personally I don't really care, it happened a while ago, but my uncle and...Other people, they want revenge."

"And where are those people?"

"I don't know where they reunite yet, I was never brought there. It's really all I know, please..."

"Fine. Go to your driver, and of course, not a word of what happened."

"If all of this are lies, believe me your uncle will be the less of your worries," Selina concluded.

They started to go but Ecco suddenly stopped and turned to Silver again: "The book you gave Alfred Pennyworth, it was the Dark-Half by Stephen King, the story of a man pursued by an evil twin. I guess it was another hint?"

She only nodded in response and Ecco gave a little grin: "Not bad."

They left Silver here, the young girl hoped she would actually get out of all of this alive. As she said, her life really went wrong since she lost her parents, her uncle had seemed cold to her, but he was actually a monster. She didn't have much hope about those two, though the blond woman made her think of her aunt. Maybe she was an assassin too? If she managed to put a bullet in Theo's brain, she would be relieved. She went to the driver, faking nothing and pretended she had been a bit late because she had forgotten something. She prayed nothing would happen to her, and she prayed Bruce would be okay too.

At the same time, Ecco and Selina were out. "So, what do you think of it?" the woman asked.

"Well...Maybe you were right, she seemed to be terrified." And admittedly, the names she gave had been obviously a good lead, not some fake hint to fool them, they did find a surgeon and a file about Bruce's clone. She didn't like the girl, but she had been honest for once. "What do we do, now?"

"I have a call to give. I want to tell Jeremiah about it." She took her phone out, and called him with a twinge of hope that he would be proud of her. Once she and Selina were in her car, she explained Jeremiah what they learned and the young man congratulated her. She grinned a bit at this. "Also, I noticed something: whenever she was talking about their plans, she would talk both about her uncle and her aunt. But whenever she was scared, she spoke only of her uncle. I don't think she is scared by Tabitha."

"Well, maybe they have a better relationship. We could use that. Anyway Bates has no family left. Only a mother but she is in a retirement home. It really won't be easy to find him. At least it' good news if Theo doesn't know where he is. Means he is alive. I'm thinking of a new plan. I'll tell you more about it."

She perfectly knew what it meant: Alfred and Selina couldn't know about that plan, and it definitely meant something exciting would happen!

** O o O**

The morning went quite differently for Bruce. He was awoken early by Jerome, he was sleeping on the side when he was abruptly turned to lay on is back. He blinked and felt Jerome straddling him.

“Wake up sleepy head!”

“What…”

“I’m bored! Come on, let’s do something; sleeping is all good but I’m not some fucking sloth!”

Bruce huffed: “Did you woke me up like that just because you’re bored?!”

“Yeah!”

“…Seriously! You’re worse than some excited puppy, you know that?!”

This made Jerome laugh and he kissed him only to have Bruce push him gently but firmly, looking obviously annoyed. The redhead smirked at this: was he playing hard to get? “I want you. How about we do it right now?” Jerome was almost purring as he said that.

“No way!”

“Too bad. Kiss me, then.”

“Is that an order?”

“Would you like it to be an order? Would that entice you?” Asked Jerome.

“It seems like you don’t know me,” Bruce pointed out.

The teen sat down and Jerome put a finger in his upper chest. “I know guys in power often enjoy being submissive, you know like in BDSM and all. Make them feel relieve of responsibility and all. It could be your case. But I gotta admit, how can you know that yet when you hardly explored your sexuality?”

Bruce knew Jerome was saying that to make him feel uneasy and inexperienced. He decided to try and turn the table.

“And you? How much did you explore it?”

“I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re asking. I had a few girls and guys, that’s the advantage if having a cult forming around you: you can find partners very easily.”

"And you were...On top or..."

This made Jerome laugh out of surprise, he didn't think Bruce would be able to ask such a question, the boy was blushing already. "Wow, my little tiger is getting bolder and bolder! Well, if you must know, I was always on top. Why?"

"Out of curiosity."

Jerome leaned closer: "Really? Does it frighten you? The idea of being under me?"

Bruce felt a twinge of fear but kept a poker face and leaned a bit closer: "You don't scare me."

"Prove it."

Bruce hesitated and frowned before understanding: "Are you seriously challenging me in hope that I'll sleep with you? Find something better!"

With that, he just got out of bed and Jerome rolled his eyes. After all, breakfast time would come soon. The Common Room wasn't exactly calm this morning, there were already a few fights and of course Jerome was immediately in to make even more mess. Bruce just searched Marina and Jonathan. He found her arguing with another girl, but they weren't hitting each other, and considering that their arguments was about the possibility of aliens inventing electroshocks, he would rather not get involved. Then, he saw Jonathan in a corner isolated and looking worried. Bruce went to him: was someone threatening him?!

"Hey? Are alright?"

Jonathan suddenly stiffened and shook his head, but it wasn't an answer. He wasn't looking at him, he seemed to be looking at no one actually. Bruce understood immediately: he was seeing the scarecrow again. The boy yelled and let himself slide down, his back against the wall. Bruce kneeled to Jonathan who was trembling. "It's okay, it's okay, he isn't here, it's okay!"

The teen breathed in and out deeply; holding his head. He vaguely heard a voice and looked at his side. His heart raced and he felt like ice had been thrown over him. The scarecrow.

Bruce was startled as Jonathan looked at him in fear and yelled and hit him to push him away. The teen seized Jonathan's arms and tried to maintain him down. "Stop! Stop it, it's me!"

"LET GO! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"It's Bruce! Please, I'm not here to hurt you!"

The teen struggled, tried to push Bruce and hit him but the teen managed to restrain him and hold him down. The ruckus the teen pulled drew some attention, and a prisoner, small but muscular and a notorious rapist who also killed one of his victims.

"What's wrong with the angel faces?!"

He approached with a dirty smirk and Bruce cursed mentally. Beckett, that was the guy's name if he remembered well. He would have to let go of Jonathan to fight this guy, but Jonathan needed help!

"Angel face?! Isn't that the nickname you gave me once?"

The man's smirk dropped as he recognized Jerome's voice. They saw the redhead who was maniacally looking at Beckett. He made his fist crack.

"And if I remember well, you never called me that again."

"I'm not afraid of you..."

"Now, that's a lie..."

The redhead lunged at him and punched him. The man tried to back away but it wasn't efficient. He hit Jerome as well but the redhead was resistant to blows. He just laughed at it and punched the man back and kicked him hard, sending him against the closest wall. He didn't have as much as practice Bruce but he was still strong. Before he could hit again, one of Jerome's followers crashed the man's skull against the wall, knocking him out efficiently. That one was tall and big and he looked at Jerome with all the devotion possible.

"He is done!"

"He'll be done when I say so."

The man looked at Bruce who was still restraining Jonathan who was starting to calm down, and snorted in spite: "So busy playing the babysitter you didn't help! Good thing I did something."

"Is Jerome some damsel in distress?"

"No!" The guy looked away and left, fearing that Jerome might actually get angry at him: if the redhead thought he was considering him as some weakling, he would suffer. The atmosphere had calmed down, the guards had stopped most of the little fights. Jerome still gave one last kick in the guy's stomach, chuckling cruelly. One guard told him to stop, and Jerome accepted for once and just watched as Beckett was brought in the nursery.

Bruce rolled his eyes and spoke again to Jonathan, telling him the scarecrow was leaving and the teen calmed down progressively. He was breathing hard but at least he wasn't trying to hurt Bruce anymore.

“Are you better?” The teen could only nod in response. Bruce put an arm on his shoulders and started helping him to stand up. Jonathan couldn't help but blush a bit at that gesture, and gripped the boy's shirt. Jerome saw this and almost hissed in rage. Jonathan Crane…That guy was going to die! He just helped Bruce and his stupid friend was all he cared about!

The guards weren't looking in their direction anymore. He went to them and as Jonathan was standing, Jerome roughly pushed him again the wall, making him gasp and squirm. He looked up at Jerome in fear, and Bruce sent his palm against Jerome’s chest, keeping him away from Jonathan. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“I should ask that, Bruce! The fuck are you doing with that wimpy twink?”

“_Twink_? I’m just helping and why…”

Seizing the hand which was still on his chest, he pulled on his arm and got him closer, making Bruce gasp. “I don’t allow you to approach him, got it?”

The expression on his face would usually make people cower, in fact, the inmates around were all feeling wary already: when Jerome Valeska was like this, it was dangerous. Then, why did Bruce kept looking in his eyes? Why did he have that slight smirk?

“Allow me? You don’t allow me?”

He approached his face and Jerome smirked. Until Bruce’s hand fled and hit his throat. The redhead chocked and Bruce pushed him away strongly, then turned to Jonathan and grabbed his arm. He started to lead him away and turned to Jerome who was regaining his breath.

“Don’t even get near my room tonight!”

He didn’t care that half of the room heard him, everyone knew anyway. He led Jonathan to one of the table and made him sit at his side. He looked at Jerome who slowly walked, observing them, obviously furious. few of his followers came and he told them something. Bruce had no idea what but he knew this was about him and Jonathan. He turned to his friend, still keeping vigilance, though.

“Feeling better?”

“…Yeah…Jerome…He makes me think of the scarecrow…He isn’t here, is he?”

“I see no scarecrow, and I can handle Jerome, you know that.”

“Why did he hit me? I did nothing to him…”

“Calm down, Jerome is just jealous.”

“You told him not to get near your room, does he hurt you?”

“Hum…” He grinned slightly, a bit embarrassed and amused. “No, I must admit he doesn’t.”

Jonathan’s face lightened with realization, and the scared expression fainted; he grinned slightly instead, for the first time in forever. “Ah, yes, I see what you mean! I’m stupid. I got laid a few times, before getting locked here. She wasn’t really my girlfriend, she would see several guys, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to…You see?”

Bruce nodded, he didn't bother telling Jonathan he didn't have sex yet, because well...Thy got quite close to it. He wondered if this was his motivation with Jerome. The young man was still looking at them, talking with a few other inmates. Weirdly, this jealous behavior roused something in Bruce, some kind of weird amusement. He would just make sure this would stay between them, that Jonathan wouldn’t go through consequences. But he wanted to see whether or not he could make Jerome do what he wished.

“You love him?”

“No…But I guess I’m attracted to him.”

“Just like me and that girl. Cheryl, her name was. I also had a thing with Marina yesterday. You only like guys or girls too?”

“I usually like girls, this guy is an exception…” He saw Jonathan cringing in fear and looking around. He put a hand on his shoulder. “He isn’t around. He doesn’t even exist, just in your mind.”

“No, Bruce…I swear he is here…Why doesn’t he just kill me?”

“Because he is only a dream. You can push him away, I’m sure of that, just remember he is your creation, you can erase it.” Jonathan shook his head and whispered: “Even if you’re right, there are things in your mind you can’t erase…I learned one thing here, we don’t really know our own minds, we can fight but we can’t never really win.”

“But maybe we can…Help it to get better, to feel better. That monster, I’m sure you can find a way to fight it, one way or another. There are ways to control our fears, you just need to find yours.” He took away his hand from his shoulder after giving it a light squeeze. He looked at Jerome again who seemed calmer but who still had his eyes locked on him. He was thinking of a way to get revenge…He wondered how he would react if he made a gesture toward Jonathan. But no, the other boy was no toy, he was obviously stressed enough, he didn’t need to be some pawn in his and Jerome’s sick little game.

“Do you mind if we just talk about girls and boys again?” Jonathan asked, almost pleading.

Bruce agreed, understanding it was probably comforting for Jonathan to have a normal teenage conversation. In fact it could do him some good. “Okay. So, what happened with Marina?”

Jonathan smiled and blushed as he started to tell him more about it. He spent most of his morning with him, but in the afternoon, Marina came and decided to join them. That's when he decided it was time to start investigating:

"Guys? Have you ever heard about a guy named Adrian Bates?"

"Hum...No," Jonathan replied.

"I might. There was an Adrian, but I don't remember his family name. You should ask Emily, you know. She had a thing with that guy. Why do you want to know that?"

"Well, it's quite complicated, but that guy could have infos I need. Thank you, Marina."

She winked at him and Bruce left them alone, not noticing the disappointment in the other boy's eyes. Going to that girl named Emily, he knew this wouldn't be easy. She was around his age, maybe just a bit older, and was really thin, her long blond hair a bit messy. She didn't look friendly at all, and he had seen her once or twice, she could be violent. He didn't fear that, he could defend himself after all, but he needed her to talk to him. He sat at her table and she immediately growled: "Fuck off!"

Well, this wasn't a good start! "Hi. You want to stay alone."

"Yes, go away!"

"Did I do something to you?"

"You're here, and that's all! I don't want anyone around! It's not just you, you're not that particular, mister Bruce Wayne!"

He didn't know what to say and remembered the technique of manipulation Jerome told him about once: _I just have to pretend I understand them easily, getting them to talk to me, and that’s how I can start to have an influence on them._ He also told him 'psychic' would often just throw general information at people, and let them do the whole work. Maybe he could try. He observed the girl and saw marks on her wrists, auto-mutilation obviously.

"You're not just a loner by nature, I'd say. You do enjoy your peace, but am I wrong to assume you want to be alone because you're sad as much as you're angry?"

"No shit! Who would feel good in here? Except maybe some crazy ass like your boyfriend!"

Bruce shook his head: "I'm not happy either, but I'd say there is something more..." Marina said she had a thing with Adrian. "Is there someone you miss?"

She suddenly hit the table with both hands and stood abruptly, making the chair under her fell.

"What the hell is your problem?! I don't want to talk!"

He stood and spoke in a harder, cold-angered tone: "Don't lie to me! You do want to talk, you long for it! And you know how I guess that? Simple, you sit alone but you don't get into a corner where you would be left alone, you don't ask to go in your room! You sit in the middle of the room, at the end of the table close to the other seats where people could easily come and talk to you. You want people to notice you while you're mopping, so stop pretending you don't need anyone!"

She huffed but seemed taken out of balance: "I just sit where I want!"

"Yeah, and it's very revealing! You do need someone, you just don't know who you can talk to." He sat down again. "I know the feeling."

She snorted, but her stance was less aggressive. "Please, you have that boyfriend of yours!"

"It's not the same...Wait...It's that, isn't it? You miss your boyfriend?"

She looked at him and her eyes became sad again. She sat and hunched her back: "He was freed and yet he shouldn't have! He wasn't ready!"

"What makes you say that?"

"He would still open his wrist, like me. You know that once we did it together, but to mix our blood...It was romantic."

He didn't tell her how this actually wounded quite weird. He just went on: "He left a long time ago?"

"I don't remember, more than a month, something like that."

"I'm sorry, you must miss him a lot."

Emily nodded: "You don't find many people you can understand. Yes he was violent, but not really with me, we had a bit of fights, but I felt more alive with him."

He could understand, he felt like that with Selina, when he was living with her in the streets and now with Jerome. He nodded: "It's almost addictive when someone makes you feel that way."

"Oh yes!" She smiled to him for the first time, a tiny grin but it was something. He asked: "You feel...betrayed?"

"No! Before leaving, he said he would make me come with him!"

"He wanted to make you escape?"

"No, no! He wouldn't do that, he said someone big had a job for him and that once it would be done, he would have money and that this big guy would make sure I would be liberated. He wanted us to go and live together in Mexico! He loved Mexico. He just told me I would have to call him Peter, he changed his name, but I didn't like it."

Definitely the right Adrian! Bruce was stunned: so this was how Galavan convinced Bates? Money and freedom for both he and his girlfriend? "What kind of big guy could do that..."

"None, you dumbass! He just got trapped! This is probably one of Strange's fucked up experiment. Watch your ass by the way, if you're one if his patients, he might have horrible plans for you."

_Oh, you're boyfriend got trapped, but not by Strange_. "I'll be careful, thank you...You know, I know a few people outside who could maybe help find your boyfriend, maybe he is somewhere outside."

She shrugged: "Nah, he isn't alive anymore, I'm sure. But if you wanna try, go ahead."

"What was his family name?"

"Bates. Yeah, like in the movie, thank you very much," she said on an angry tone again. "So many people made fucking jokes about it!"

"You noticed too? There are some jokes that are very easy to make, and yet every person who say those think they are the only ones who ever thought about those!"

She laughed at this, her sad expression disappearing suddenly and nodded franctically. He continued to speak to her but she didn't know much about his past. She just told him that before being released, he had befriended one guard named Barry, and there always seemed to be something shady between them. She made a small head move in the guards' direction: "It's that shithead. When I asked him once if he had any news about him, he acted as if he had never known him. I'm sure he helped Strange to fool him."

"It's weird."

"That guy is just an asshole. Now maybe you could actually leave me. I really want to be alone, you're fucking annoying at times."

He was surprised at the mood swing, but now, she seemed to suffer from that. He just nodded as she changed seat to lean against the wall, and this time it seemed like she really wanted to stay alone. Anyway, he had what he needed. Jerome had watched the whole exchange with interest. Bruce hadn't been careful enough, he had listened to them. Adrian Bates? Who was that new guy? Why Bruce wanted to know more about him? Maybe, but with all the people who gravitated around him he might have forgotten him.

That evening, he left the Great Room earlier than most of the inmates. He looked back at Jerome one last time. Smiling darkly, the redhead went to follow him when one of the wacko near him grabbed his arm.

“Going to your lover, eh? You could do better than a kid…”

“Like you? Oh, sweetie, you’re cute, but I like them when they can bit, and you…You can hardly bark.” He almost threw himself at him, chattering his teeth once as if he was going to bit him. The man backed away in fear, letting go of the redhead. He laughed out and walked away while other loonies mocked the man. He went to Bruce’s room and saw the young boy on his bed, reading his stupid book. He turned to him and huffed while getting up.

“I told you I didn’t want you to get near my room.”

“You really thought I would actually stay away?”

“I had my hopes.”

He went to him as Jerome was closing the door. He had that little smile which confused Jerome a lot; once again, anyone else would have been wary, at least careful, but Bruce looked like he wanted to play. He was certainly not scared.

“I believe we have some things to discuss.”

“You mean how you got so emotional? I didn’t think I could ever get you into that state.”

That’s when Jerome realized. “Did you really do this only to make me jealous?”

“No, I really just wanted to help my friend. But then, I admit your stupid reaction put that idea in my mind.”

Jerome laughed at this, the kid got him! Passing his arms around the boy’s waist, he drew him closer. “You like him, Bruce?”

Strangely, there was something enjoyable in that twinge of jealousy, weirdly arousing even. “How do you think I like him, Jerome?”

“Like this…” He kissed his dark-haired beauty, a smooth one, just like the first time they made out, still wondering whether or not Bruce was attracted to that wimpy teen. That made Bruce shiver once again. Once they broke the kiss, the redhead asked again: “So?”

“Still jealous, really?” He thought of toying with him a bit, but for Jonathan’s sake, he decided to give Jerome what he wanted. Plus that would be only the truth. “No. And I think we already had a discussion like this once. We’re friends, I want people to talk to.”

“You have me, I’m all you need.”

“Ah, let’s come back to that,” he freed himself from Jerome’s hold. “You’re _not allowing me_? Do you seriously think you can forbid me to do anything?”

“I could, Brucie.”

That wasn’t to please him, and Jerome could see it. He wondered how he would react. The boy just sat on the bed. “Fine, then, maybe I should forbid you to do things as well. Like, for example, that guy from earlier who came to save you…”

He laughed at this: "Miller? I could have him but you must be crazy to think I would screw that one." Towering over him, Jerome warned him threateningly: “Anyway, Bruce, you’re not one to control me.”

“It’s annoying when someone try to do that, isn’t it? You're probably feeling like I do, that’s called empathy, I wonder if you have that ability sometimes.”

Oh, he had a little smug smile, and it was hard to say whether it was unnerving or seducing. “What game are you playing?”

“I’m teaching you something. Now let’s hope you can learn,” Bruce replied, still so smugly.

“Guys like me rarely learn...”

“That's a lie. You showed me about it, you taught me a few things too, after all.”

That was true, and maybe he would have to be more careful than he thought. The kid might understood more than he ought to. He just smirked and uttered gently: “Fine, then there is something else I'd like to learn: who is Adrian Bates?” The kid seemed a bit unsettled and he enjoyed it. "Come on, I heard you, you weren't very careful! I vaguely remember that girl and a guy, but I never paid attention to them. You'll tell me."

"I need to know where that guy is. That girl doesn't know but there is that guard..."

"And you need someone with influence to make him talk...Well, seems like you got your man."

He suddenly kissed him and pushed him down. Bruce started to push him away but he pinned both his arm at each side of his head.

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

Jerome looked at him with a playful expression. “I’ll make you change your mind.”

He kissed him again and yelped in pain as Bruce bit him. The boy sent his knee as hard as he could in Jerome’s side and they struggled until the dark-haired boy found himself on top, Jerome was smiling in wonder, and he bit his lip.

"Do you know you're damn attractive when you're like that?" He uttered slowly, almost entranced. "Dominance, anger, fire! Just like that little glimpse in your eyes each time we speak of Galavan...Yes! Here it is!" He took Bruce's face in his hands, devouring him with his eyes and slowly murmured: "That's what I love about you, even more than your pretty face...Have you ever heard those lines_? Tyger, Tyger, Burning bright, In the forest of the night_...This could be you."

He knew that poem, indeed. Bruce felt a weird vertigo at this, Jerome was looking at him in a way no one did: unrestrained desire. He didn't give a damn about money, he just wanted him. Without thinking his lips descended. "Are you really jealous?"

Understanding, Jerome whispered: "Each time someone has their eyes on you."

Taking a deep breath, the teen finally declared: "If anything happens, then I'll be on top."

"Everything you want." He kissed him and laid down again after taking off his shirt. It was the first time Bruce saw him like this and he had to admit he was attractive and muscular. "I'll give you a favor: you will be dominant tonight. I can't guarantee you it will always be like that, but for tonight, go ahead."

He was pretty eager to see what would happen, he wanted to see what Bruce would do. In a swift move, the teen went to his neck and planted his teeth there. The redhead tensed, expecting a lot of pain, but instead, Bruce just nipped, playing with him in a strange, gentle way. But now, that was his thing, to be gentle and fiery at the same time, the way he started to nip his ear as well. It teased pain without really giving it, and he was starting to get addicted, his hands went under Bruce's shirt and he lifted it slowly. Understanding the message, Bruce lifted himself and took it off and threw it on the ground.

Jerome smirked hugely at the sight, he drew the teen toward him once again and Bruce kissed his neck this time, letting his nails graze the skin. Jerome also scratched his back, gently too, and allowed his hands to wander as Bruce also kissed chest, nipping it as well. The young man tensed slightly at this, impatient to have more.

The lights were turned off, like every nights. As they were in the dark, other ruffles of clothes were heard and new sounds as well, groans and moans, muffled words from Jerome giving Bruce a few indications. The teen knew it was wrong, it was his first and he would waste it for Jerome, and that man was a murderer, it was shameful...But he wanted it, and a part of him yearned for it badly. He was in that cold, macabre and joyless place, horrible thoughts plaguing his mind...This was life and fire, and he felt so free...And it was great, shameful maybe but pleasurable!

"You're mine, Bruce, you're mine, don't ever forget it!"

He ignored those words. The redhead didn't care that he didn't answer, he didn't need Bruce's approval, the boy was his now. Jerome had allowed him what he never accorded to anyone else and he didn't regret it. There was something he felt with him which was just fulfilling, his mind usually overwhelmed and yearning for violence and excitement had his fill, and that was so relieving. They were embracing tightly, almost tangled together, and Jerome gripped him like his life depended on it. He never experienced something like that, true passion and desire!

When they lay together, panting, Jerome kept smiling as he listened to Bruce's breathing as it was getting steadier and steadier. he was falling asleep. He had really loved what they did, the kid was still a bit clumsy, it had been a messy exploration of what they enjoyed. But it been a passionate and fiery exploration.

Jeremiah...His twin would have to taste that too. He had to get out of here with Bruce and bring the young man to his twin. They would get Bruce to stay at their side and the three of them would be unstoppable! Jeremiah needed Bruce and now Jerome needed him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you'll enjoy it!


	10. Threats and Traps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the nex chapter! Don't hesitate to point out mistakes!

When Jerome awoke, he smiled thinking about last night. Now, he definitely had someting to keep a hold on Bruce. He was pretty sure the kid wouldn't want him to tell anyone what happened between them last night. Oh sure, the billionaire boy could deny everything, say that he was crazy, and it could indeed work. But it would spread the seeds of doubts in some people, and Bruce knew it. He looked at the dark-haired boy who was still sleeping. He shook his shoulder quite brutally to wake him up.

“Wha…”

“Wake up! I know usually people would wake their new lover with a nice kiss but I like to be unconventional!”

Sleepy and tired, Bruce growled: “You’re annoying…”

“I like being annoying too. Come on, Brucie, how about an encore?”

“No.”

He sighed in the pillow. God, what did he do? It had felt good, really good, for a moment he had forgotten everything, he had felt alive and all…But now he was ashamed, he shouldn’t have done that with Jerome. It had been his first time and he regretted it. But he couldn’t show Jerome anything, otherwise he would use it. Yet the redhead wasn’t blind.

“You wished nothing happened, isn’t it?”

“I just slept with the guy who tried to kill me and murdered people. I feel quite weird.”

Jerome hugged him from behind, but it wasn’t a nice hug, more like a possessive hold. “Why would you feel guilty? You didn’t kill anyone, you didn’t rape me. Or would feel better if had forced me?”

This horrified him: “No! Why would I?”

“Because you could, and it would have hurt me. Then it would have been good vengeance.”

Bruce got free of his hold and turned to face him. “I don’t want to inflict that kind of revenge! I’m not a rapist!”

“Then don’t regret, and you see that we have a common point! We don’t rape. You needed that, and you full-filled that need with someone very willing. Are you afraid that ‘good people’ will judge you? Maybe they should get in here first, and we’ll see whether or not they don’t get in someone’s bed. But unlike you, they’d be someone’s bitch.”

“What am I to you?”

“My lover. I like that word, it sounds better than boyfriend, more mature and even classy.”

Bruce looked down. He knew Jerome was just trying to manipulate him to continue to have sex but one thing was true: the people who never went through that couldn’t judge him. Arkham was hell if you didn’t know how to defend yourself. Jonathan had told him that some inmates had tried to rape him, he had only been saved by a guard who had taken pity on him, but otherwise he would have been taken by force. The fact he had often been in solitary confinement had helped too. Bruce knew that of he didn’t know how to defend himself, he would be half-dead already. And he had to admit it, if Jerome hadn’t forbid other inmates to touch him, things would be harder.

Yet he didn’t want Alfred or Selina to know. Even Jeremiah, he wouldn’t be able to look at him in the eyes. Jerome put back a strand of hair in place.

“People judge and judge, but all of them had done shameful things, it’s hypocritic all those morals. Just do what your body wants, since you don’t hurt anyone, why should you feel like it’s such a big deal.”

_Because I’m basically insulting everyone you hurt. And because I don’t love you, my first time should have been different._ But he wouldn’t tell him that, it’s not like Jerome could understand and it wasn’t like Jerome could understand. Some people had heard them, and the news had spread. People didn’t care much in here, it was just the usual gossip. Jerome left Bruce on his own, after all, he said would make the guard who knew Adrian Bates talk, and he intended to show Bruce what he could do. The boy just went to his friends, glad to be away from Jerome a bit. Marina was pretty excited when Bruce came and joined them.

“I heard something happened between you and Jerome! Some noises from your cell…” She trailed in a sultry voice.

“News travel fast,” the boy sighed moodily.

“So you did sleep with him?! Wow, that’s hot!”

“Could you be a bit more discreet about it?”

“Why? Everyone will know anyway. How about a three-way between you, me and him?”

Bruce refused and felt uneasy as he felt people staring at him. He hoped it wouldn’t spread much out of Arkham. Jonathan looked at him intensely: he was pretty sure his friend was making a wrong choice, Bruce was too good for Jerome Valeska, yesterday hen his friend had told him about his relationship, he hadn’t realized immediately how dangerous it was. After all Bruce knew how to handle himself, and he had also told him that he and Jerome didn’t have sex. But overnight, he had thought of it and now he feared for Bruce. The fact he and Jerome finally did it only made him feel more concerned and also bad. The boy deserved better, definitely better.

“Maybe you shouldn’t push things with him. You know how he can get.”

“I know it cannot go anywhere. For now it’s just…I don’t know.”

Something urged Jonathan to tell him to stop, but then he remembered he had slept with Marina already, he couldn’t judge Bruce.

“Don’t worry for me, I’ll be fine.”

“You defended me many times,” Jonathan replied. “Of course I should worry about you. Since you're here this place became bearable…”

The boy smiled to him. If he could prove his innocence and get out, he would do everything to help Jonathan, find him a better place and a better doctor. He saw Adrian’s ex-girlfriend’s from afar, Emily. Maybe he could talk to her again, it would help him to focus on his mission.

Meanwhile, Jerome was taking action. He had influence over some of the guards, and one of them told him the guard who befriended Bates was Randall Cartwright, and he had a nice little wife named Stacy. Apparently, Randall was very happy because they would have a baby in a few months. Sometimes, it was so easy it was a joke. Jerome and a few of his followers went to him, he was sitting in the hall, watching the lunatics around, looking bored. Well, he would fix that. Jerome took a chair and put it to be sit face to face with Randall. The guard was surprised when Jerome Valeska sat before him with one of his minions behind him.

"Hi! How are you?"

"...What do you want?"

"Not a 'hello'?"

"...What is it you want, Mr Valeska?"

Titling his head to the side, his eyes narrowed and he sighed dramatically. "I need you to tell me a few things."

"I don't have to answer any of your questions." The man sounded brave, but he could see some wariness in him. He stood up but Jerome wasn't about to let him go like that.

"Too bad! And me, who also came to congratulate you! I heard about your future baby, how is Stacy by the way?"

Jerome smirked as he saw the man stopping right in his track, looking fully scared this time. He leaned back against the chair in a nonchalant pose and simply murmured: "I can ask some of my people outside to go to her and visit her for me. Oh, of course they are a bit unpredictable, so I guess Stacy could have her neck simply broken, or be cut in pieces. Who knows? Life is full of possibilities to die!"

The horror in the guy's eyes was enough to tell him he had succeeded already. "Okay, I'll tell you whatever you want, just don't touch her!"

"It's very simple, you'll see: Adrian Bates, or Peter Tobias, whatever: I want to know where he is."

"Well...He didn't tell me. I was just paid by someone unknown to give informations."

"A black woman?"

The guy was stunned: "How do you know?" Jerome simply shurgged, letting him known he wasn't the one giving answers. The man sighed and went on: "Yes. I had to give him some instructions, he asked me for help when he decided to change his name. Apparently that woman had a work for him, but I don't know what it was exactly, I just had to give him messages..."

Jerome suddenly hit the table hard, making the man jump in fright: "Did I fucking ask you that?! No! I want to know where he is, and you'd rather have something for me..."

"Wait, please! I'm sorry, he didn't tell me where he lived but..." The man searched and finally uttered: "He told me that he had a friend, a guy who had a gun shop. He said that because he wanted to look badass or something, told me that his friend showed him how to handle a knife and a gun...He also spoke of that guy who was dealing drugs, but he didn't say anything else."

Jerome slowly nodded. This should be already good for a genius like Miah, if he knew where Adrian used to live, he could find a gun shop nearby. Now, he had to tell him and it would be all, but first, he would play a bit with Bruce. He found the boy talking to that Emily again. He took him by the arm and told him to follow him and Bruce complied for once. The girl seemed angry but she didn’t dare to protest against Jerome.

"What do you want?" Bruce asked as they were walking away.

"Play a bit."

Bruce freed himself: "Seriously, Jerome! I was..."

"There is a prize for you in the end. You get what I mean?"

Intrigued, the teen followed him again. They went back in Bruce's room and Jerome pushed him in gently but firmly. The boy crossed his arm, obviously not happy with that, and Jerome gave him a huge smile.

"What if I told you I had some infos you want?"

"About Adrian Bates?! What is it?"

"Huhu...Do you think it will be that easy?"

Of course, the redhead was horny again. "Jerome, stop playing around! I know you love that, but..."

"Precisely, and you owe me!"

"Owe you?"

"Yeah. You couldn't have discovered that by your own means, that guard wouldn't have told you anything."

Bruce sighed. "I don't even know what _that_ is. So honestly, how do I know, this isn't just a trick?"

"True...But you chose to trust me until now."

"I don't trust you one hundred percent." Weirdly, Jerome didn't like that, even though the kid was technically right. But he wanted Bruce to be devoted to him, to trust him entirely, to be ready to die for him, just like his followers. But Bruce wasn't meant to be a follower, it would make him loose his fire. Fuck! For once Jerome had no idea what he wanted, he wanted Bruce but he didn't even know how, he wanted to keep him but he also wanted resistance!

Bruce sighed, unaware of Jerome's internal conflict. The redhead pushed him toward the bed and kissed him, but Bruce pushed him away firmly: “You seriously think I will sleep with you to have those informations?”

“According to what happened last night, I don’t need to resort to that. It’s a game, Bruce, I want you to seduce me. Until now I’m the one who did everything to seduce you, except for that time when you kissed me.”

_You have to give him what he wants. But he doesn’t want anything easy, that’s what he told me, he despised the easy girls and guys he slept with_. “I already seduced you Jerome, somehow. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have pursued me like that,” he leaned closer to the redhead’s lips, and embraced him. Bruce could see excitement in his eyes, his body tensing slightly in excitement at his action and the ghost of a grin appearing. He was starting to feel some excitement too, it was wrong but it was growing. Seducing him was weirdly nice. “I’m not the kind to sleep just to obtain a little something like that. If you don’t help me, I’ll get things done on my own. Maybe I should just step away from you, leave you hanging there to think about me…”

With that, he let his arm drop and stepped away from Jerome to go toward the door. He felt a hand seizing his arm roughly and Jerome pulled him and pinned him on the bed. The redhead’s breathing was more ragged already and he kissed him with hunger, holding him tight. “Oh you’re not going anywhere!”

“Are you going to stop me? Do you think you can?”

This was like a whiplash for Jerome, and the kind he liked. He kissed him again, taking off his clothes and Bruce laid there. He should have resisted, he should have said no. But a part of him really desired this. He didn’t know why he wanted that, once again he felt shame doing it with that killer, but he couldn’t help it. This time though, he wouldn’t be able to do it like last time, he just stayed under the redhead, it was as if this internal conflict forbad him to take action. Jerome smirked and murmured at his ear “Seems like it’s my turn.”

Bruce was unsure. It would be good to just lay there and have someone pleasure him, but on the other hand it was oh so shameful. Jerome was continuing and Bruce didn’t stop him, in spite of all his moral dilemmas he found himself yielding to his needs. It didn’t last long but it was intense, he didn’t like being under him that much, but it wasn’t that bad either. Once it was over, they lay panting and Jerome looked at Bruce: “You were supposed to seduce me may I remind you of that?”

“But I did.”

The redhead looked at him and laughed. It was true indeed! Little bastard was definitely not innocent! That reaction brought a smile to Bruce, and he realized he didn’t smile at all during their intercourse. Jerome told him what he discovered, and Bruce knew he had to go to Lee and tell her everything. He kissed him again, almost as a thank you and also because he wanted to regain control. He should never abandon it when he was with Jerome. To think this was the guy who almost killed him! But that was maybe also the excitement, flirting with danger and death. He was still gentle in his touch, and it was still making the redhead melt a bit. He looked at Bruce with burning eyes.

“I think I could lock you away so you would never go anywhere, and I would share you...”

He stopped immediately when the dark-haired boy frowned. He laughed at this: “It was a joke Bruce! Calm down! I won’t share you!”

“You’re crazy…”

“Of course!” He kissed his neck and saw a slight scar. It was faint, not really big, but you could see it if you paid attention. He had noticed it once, but it was only now he realized: “I made it, didn’t I? It was that day, when I put a knife under your neck.”

“Indeed. Happy?”

“Yeah! I didn’t kill you but I left a mark on you. It’s perfect!”

The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes, rubbed his neck and pushed him away. “Well, good times are over, I have to go.”

“You’re going to see that girl?” Jerome asked

“Which girl?”

“Bates’s girlfriend.”

“Emily? No, not yet,” Bruce murmured.

“Lee Thompkins, then? It’s a wonder she doesn’t hate you.”

Bruce wondered how he knew. “She believes me.”

“I guess she is smarter than most.” He knew now that the kid didn’t kill Gordon, and he was genuinely curious to know what was going on. It was more entertaining than toying with the other inmates.

“Why were you talking to that Emily again?”

“She could tell me more. But you interrupted me too soon.”

He watched the kid leave and smirked thinking of what they did. Bruce quickly thought of what Jerome told him while going to Lee. It wasn’t what he learned about Adrian Bates which bothered him, it was those words: ‘share you…’ Jerome had told him it was a joke but…It didn’t sound like a joke at all, in fact, it seemed to him that Jerome had let something slip and then tried to hide it. But who, then? Other cultists? No, clearly Jerome didn’t want them to touch him. There was only one person who was worthy enough in Jerome’s eyes and that was Jeremiah…

Bruce had started to feel that something was weird about it already. He remembered what Jerome told him once: _“__You don’t have siblings. You don’t imagine what it’s like to have a twin. It’s like having a part of you out of your body, with its own flesh and bones. And it’s as if there was a bit of them in you, a bit which doesn’t really belong to you. We understand each other deeply. I was ready to do anything to protect him against those who would hurt him, and they were numerous.”_

_Bruce frowned. Something in what Jerome sounded…Strange._

He remembered that time and what seemed strange to him was this: if the twins could understand each other deeply, how was it that Jeremiah never knew that Jerome was a psycho? Jeremiah always told him he thought his brother was good inside, that their toxic environment was the only reason why he could be violent at times. But Miah also told him that he and Jerome would spend a lot of times together since they were outcasts in the circus. He had remained a bit evasive about that but Bruce couldn’t help but start to think that Jeremiah might have known more than he pretended. But now, maybe Jeremiah had been blinded by love. Or maybe Jerome was deluded and thought Jeremiah understood him more than he pretended. He stopped thinking about this as he reached the nursery and found Lee in here.

He told her about that friend Adrian Bates and who had a gun shop, it was thin thread but it was still something. She nodded: “Alright, I will tell Alfred everything as soon as possible. Bruce…I heard something weird, two patients talking…They said something about you and Jerome. It was weird.”

Bruce blushed and looked down and Lee was baffled to understand it was true indeed. “Hum…Okay, if it really happened, I need you to talk to me about it, did he force you?”

“No.

“Did he coerce you? Threatened to hurt you or someone else?”

He shook his head. As much as he felt ashamed, he didn’t want to lie to her: “No, I was consentient. Listen…I don’t really know why, but…I was fine with it. I know he is despicable, and I do despise him but there is something that did…Attract me. Please, don’t tell Alfred.”

“I won’t, it’s up to you whether or not you want him to know. But Bruce, even if you agreed, you must realize he is a manipulator and he is surely making you think things and feels things that you wouldn’t in normal times.”

Buce rubbed his neck again. Jerome had given him that scar indeed, but he had also kissed his skin almost like he worshipped it. “I don’t feel normal since Jim’s death. And since I’m here. When I’m with Jerome, I stop thinking about it. There is something that makes me feel better.”

Lee bit her lip. Maybe it was that: some sense of auto-destruction, the will to soil himself because he felt like he needed to be punished. Since his parents’ death, the boy had some guilt complex. Jim’s death was somehow linked to Bruce, so the boy felt responsible deep down.

“Bruce, you have to stop this. If you need it, I could try to have Jerome be put in confinement…”

“No, it’s okay. He doesn’t want to force me. Don’t worry about that, if I do need help, I promise I will ask you, but for now it’s better if Jerome is around.”

Lee didn’t like it one bit but she considered one thing: Jerome was somehow protecting Bruce here; she knew how dangerous Arkham could be. She was conflicted, but for now, she had to tell Alfred about what Jerome discovered. She went to her office, she had to text Alfred in a place where no one would see her. her conversation with Bruce were already dangerous, someone could have heard them.

As she walked, she heard voices in Strange’s office. “I knew something went on. It wasn’t normal.”

“How will you punish Crane?”

What? Lee froze as she heard that: what were they talking about?! That was Strange and Peabody, she recognized their voices.

“I need to know why he did that first.”

“Some trick?”

"It could be, but Jonathan Crane isn’t the kind to do those things on his own. Jerome Valeska could have played that trick on us and made the boy participate, he loves to think this hospital belongs to him. If it's only that, it wouldn't really matter, after all I can only encourage creativity. But my keys disappeared at that moment...It's no coincidence to me."

"But you're office was the same, wasn't it?"

"Indeed, nothing was taken. It could be someone who wanted to look through the files, there are a lot of paranoid patients who would love to know what is written about them. We'll have to interrogate Crane anyway. But for now, I want to show you something…"

Hell! It was going down! Hugo knew that the electricity had been cut off by Jonathan! She had to think of something, quickly, or the three teens would pay the price of it!

**O o O**

That evening, Jeremiah was in his flat again with a blond girl, but this time it wasn’t Ecco. He checked on his computer, he would launch a virus on Galavan’s computer, he was pretty sure it would be effective, but for now he had to wait for a program to encrypt his secret codes to get access to it. He didn’t know how long it would take but he would have some time to take care of his guest. He looked at the girl who seemed wary and smiled reassuringly.

“Do you want some tea?”

“Hum…No, it’s okay.”

“I won’t poison it,” he said jokingly, although the girl was probably really scared. “Listen, you don’t need to be afraid, Silver.”

She wasn’t sure of that. The woman from yesterday (apparently her name was Ecco), had appeared before her school and urged her to follow her. Though Silver first refused, Ecco had told her that Theo had discovered about what she did. She didn’t know what to do, and the woman had just pulled her into the car, and seeing that she had a gun on her belt, Silver hadn’t dared to resist. Then, she had led her to this flat with that scientist named Jeremiah.

“You’re that guy’s twin.”

“Jerome Valeska? Yeah, he is my brother, so you can be sure I know what it’s like to deal with a difficult family.” He sat facing her. She was twitching nervously. “We’re friends of Bruce, didn’t he talk about me?”

“I think he did mention you once,” she murmured, a bit more reassured now that she remembered it. “Why? You’re trying to help him?”

“Yes.”

“You know you’re taking big risks?”

“I do. But I can’t leave him in Arkham. Have you ever felt alone?” She nodded, since she was with her uncle, she had felt lonely. “I did after my brother killed my mother. “I imagine Bruce made you feel less lonely since you also took a risk for him?” She nodded again. “I know it because that’s how I feel too. Only Ecco was here for me, and then Bruce. I can’t just let something happen to any of them. If it was only me I would let Ecco get involved, but when she wants to do something…” He just smiled at this, letting his words do their effect before adding: “We have to stick together, that’s why you don’t have to fear me: I have no interest and no desire to hurt you.”

She nodded, not sure whether or not he was sincere. But after all, that friend of his had been with this Selina girl who was also a friend of Bruce and it seemed like their goal was really to help him. If this guy knew already about her uncle’s plan, maybe it was important to make him understand how things went for her. “My uncle only wanted me to manipulate him so he would sell his company.”

“Ecco told me he threatened to sell you to a brothel,” he gently admitted. She nodded and he snorted, genuinely disgusted at Galavan. That guy made him think of Uncle Zack in some ways, they were both horrible uncle who would have hurt and killed their nephews/nieces without giving a damn. “How did you feel?”

“Well…I was scared and I thought it was better to play along, he was a monster and that’s how he got everything he wanted. I didn’t know where to go, my parents had always been protective, it was completely different with them. So I thought I had to toughen myself to survive among people like him. I tried to be roughless, but Bruce was really nice. Anyway, he discovered everything eventually. I felt guilty, I still do and that’s also why I gave him the names. I guess I’m just some looser,” she sighed.

“Not everyone has to be a merciless psychopath. The importance is to know what you want, what your best assets are, and to be aware of your weaknesses. You’re just young.”

She didn’t know, but she was glad she could talk about it. Bruce had spoke about Jeremiah once, and told her he was nothing like his twin. It seemed to be true. She still had to be wary of him but she felt like she could relax. If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it already.

“How will you help me? Even if you manage to take down my uncle, what will happen to me?”

“Ecco has taken a liking on you, we’re both willing to help, and Bruce will not let you down either. You will not end up in the streets.”

“And…My aunt? She isn’t as bad as my uncle.”

“She was nicer with you?” Silver nodded. “But did she ever protect you? When your uncle made those threats to you, did she protest, did she told you that she wouldn’t let that happen?”

There a few times when Tabitha vaguely told Theo to leave her alone but it was true she had always obeyed her brother in the end. She didn’t know if her aunt would have saved her from her uncle honestly. She looked down, obviously thinking over it and Jeremiah smiled inside: he had put the finger on something. The girl wasn’t that scared by her aunt but it didn’t mean she trusted her. He didn’t show anything, he just kept the concerned mask on and just continued gently: “She won’t leave us alone if we take down your uncle I fear. She will have to end up in jail as well.”

_She will end up in the river, just like your uncle_, he thought, but Silver didn’t need to know that. He preferred to keep the image of the nice scientist for now. Ecco had indeed taken an interest on that girl, she thought she could do something out of her. Maybe it would be the case, anyway if she wanted to try Jeremiah would lend a hand. After all, Ecco was so devoted she deserved a reward. Making Silver warm up to him wasn’t that difficult, and she eventually accepted a tea.

While Jeremiah was taking care of that, Ecco had an appointment. She had hired Tabitha Galavan to kill some annoying businessman in order to met with her some time ago, and had already given her half of the money. Yesterday, she had contacted her again and urged her to kill the man. She found her moody, although she obliged, the assassin didn’t like the way Ecco had insisted.

“Hi!”

“Hi. You have the money?”

“Of course! Here it is!” She showed a wallet.

“I must tell you I don’t appreciate being called to do things faster! How did you even get that number?”

“The bar when we met…Someone gave me your number.”

Of course, the bar-tender probably, he had her number since he was a middle-man between her and some clients. Tabitha got closer.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“I’m sorry, really, I just panicked.”

It was surely the first time this girl would hire an assassin, Tabitha thought, and she could forgive a mistake like this. She had spent a good part of her afternoon searching for that annoying clone of Bruce Wayne and she was tired. She looked at the girl all over. Maybe she could have some fun with that one. It wasn’t really professional but it wouldn’t be the first time. She wasn’t sure if this blondie liked girls but there was only one way to know.

“Maybe we should spend a bit more time together. After all, you need to get familiar with the way assassins works.”

Ecco lowered her head as if she was blushing and looked up at her again with an embarrassed smile: “But I do.”

Tabitha suddenly felt something stinging in her neck and realized it was a dart. Hell! It was a trap! Immediately, she took out her gun but Ecco kicked it away from her hand so fast Tabitha didn’t see it coming. The blond girl tried to kick her too but Tabitha blocked it and punched the girl in the face before kicking her again. It wasn’t enough to take down Ecco who attacked again, faking a punch only to kick her right in the solar plexus. Tabitha coughed but didn’t let that take her down. Ecco then went for her neck but Tabitha grabbed her arm and twisted it behind the woman’s back. She took out a knife and Ecco reacted quickly.

“If you kill me, you’ll never know where your niece is!”

Tabitha’s eyes widened, Ecco couldn’t see it and wondered whether or not it would be effective. Tabitha’s grip tightened painfully. “What are you talking about?!”

“Didn’t anyone tell you? She didn’t come back from school. Sweet Silver…Your brother threatened to sell her to a brothel, well now it could happen…”

“If you touch my niece…”

“What you’ll kill me? Then you’ll never know.” Tabitha was so focused on her words she didn’t notice that Ecco was taking a knife out of her pocket.

“I have my ways!”

“So do I!” She went plant the blade in Tabitha’s leg. The woman reacted in time to dodge but as she did that, her hold lessened. Ecco pulled herself from her graspand kicked her hard again in a swift move. This time Tabitha fell and when she tried to get up, she stumbled. The blond girl smirked: “Seems like the drug is getting effective.”

Everything was blurry around Tabitha, and her head turned so much she felt nauseous. Soon, she was on the ground, unconscious.

“Well, she was a tough one!”

Ecco looked up as she heard Jeri coming. The girl had been the one who shot the dart from a rooftop. “I came to help you, but you ended her in time, that was pretty impressive.”

“You made a good shot. Now, let’s put her in the car.”

The two women carried the drugged one quickly, and Ecco was satisfied. Things would go well, very well. Jeri looked at her: “Ecco? Will Jerome be free soon?”

“Oh yes. Jeremiah is also working on that.”

The crazy bar-tender smirked at this. The cult had been waiting for so long!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hesitate to comment! Next chapter will have Selina and Alfred, promise!


	11. The Calm Before...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I’m really sorry for not updating sooner, not only I butted on that chapter, but I also started having less interest for Gotham. I must admit the new teaser for the Batman sparked my interest again!  
Quick summary of recent events: Bruce had asked Jonathan and Marina to help him get in Strange’s office, for that they made the electricity black out in all Arkham. Jerome managed to know where Bruce’s clone could be hiding, and Bruce gave that info to Lee who gave it to Alfred. At the same time, Jeremiah manipulated Silver so she would work with them against her family, and Ecco and Jeri had kidnapped Tabitha. Lee has surprised a conversation between Strange and his assistant, the director suspects that Jonathan Crane had something to do with the blackout.

Lee quickly went to Jonathan's cell under the pretext to check up on him, considering how many times he had been hurt recently. He was surprised to see her, but as she closed the door she immediately went at his side.

"Jonathan, listen: we don't have much time. I know what you did to help Bruce, you cut off the power; useless to deny, I know it, I'm helping him as well. Strange knows you turned off the power, he will come and interrogate you."

"No! No, I don't want, I don't like him..."

"Shh...I know, he is scary. What you must do, is tell him that you did it because the scarecrow ordered you to do it. Alright? If he thinks you were out of your mind, you won't be punished, or midly, he mustn't discover why you really did it, or both you and Bruce will suffer for that, a lot. When he'll come, you will wait for him to ask his questions and then you'll say the scarecrow made you do it, alright?"

"But...What if he discovered about his keys and someone going in his office..."

"Don't worry, I'll get that covered if he asks more questions."

She actually didn't know what to do yet, but she would find. Jonathan nodded and told him on a more assured tone: "I'll know how to lie."

She nodded and left. He breathed in deeply. He wasn’t bad at all when it came to lies, he often used that with his father. His dad had often been tyrannical with him, and Jonathan didn’t have much freedom with him. That’s why he had learned to lie, and since he feared his father he knew he better had to lie well. Still, he kinda hoped the doctor wasn’t right, that nothing like this would happen, but he was wrong. That unbearable nurse named Peabody eventually came and took him to Strange’s office. When you were called in the director’s office even though it was the evening already, you knew something was wrong. Two guards were in here, silent and still but nonetheless threatening at each side of the desk. Hugo was just smiling as if he was glad to have him here but Jonathan perfectly knew how fake it was. He was seated and he couldn’t help but lower his eyes.

“Jonathan my boy…It seems like we have a problem.”

“W…What?”

“I think you know what we’re talking about. You see, I suspected a few days ago that someone turned off the power in the hospital. And I was right! And I know who it is.”

Jonathan didn’t say anything, he just looked around worriedly. He had to do as Miss Thompkins said, he had to pretend it was the scarecrow. He bit his fingers nervously, he didn’t have to act scared, he really was, he knew what the director was capable of.

“We saw you, Jonathan, we noticed what you did.”

“I didn’t want to! He made me do it!”

“Who made you do it? Jerome Valeska?”

He frowned: “No, the scarecrow. He said he wanted darkness. I don’t know why but it seems like it needs darkness.”

“Why do it in broad daylight, then?”

Shit, it was true it didn’t seem logical! But Jonathan didn’t lose countenance, he was supposed a to be a lunatic after all, he could do illogical things: “I don’t know, that’s what I told him! But he was urging me. I told him I couldn’t give him darkness and he got angry! So I did something, anything to appease him.”

His discourse was incoherent, but to everyone in the room, it sounded like the delirium of a disturbed teen, not lies. Jonathan went on, and in the end, though Strange was dubitative. It was rare for him, but he was human too, and for once he couldn’t tell what the truth was. He had the impression that the teen was hiding something, but he didn’t sound dishonest.

“Are you really telling me everything?”

Jonathan looked in the corner. He was hearing voices, the voice of the scarecrow. He didn’t really have a coherent speech; he was just saying horrible things to him, making threats and giving him weird ideas. He couldn’t see him right now but he would eventually appear. Wait…

“The scarecrow wants me to hurt you.”

“Really?”

Jonathan nodded. “Not physically, but he wants me to…”

“Torment me?”

“Yes! I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to torment anyone, but he keeps telling me things and he doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“I see…Is it why you stole my keys?”

“Your keys? No I didn’t do that, the scarecrow just told me to turn off the light.”

Strange seemed to think over it. “Maybe spending your next day in solitary confinement would do you some good. But don’t worry my boy, I’m not rancorous. We will find a way to take down that scarecrow I’m sure.”

Oh no, not solitary confinement! But considering what he had done, he knew this wasn’t much, he hoped that he didn’t have other ideas in mind. He looked down and nodded and apologized, assuring once more that he didn’t want to do that. He still went to solitary confinement, but he was relieved. Now he only hoped the doctor would find an explanation for the keys.

**O o O**

The flat he was living in wasn’t the only place Jeremiah had to work. There was also Ecco’s familial old house, she owned it and of course had allowed Jeremiah to install some of his stuff which couldn’t remain in his flat. Jeremiah was almost giddy when he joined Ecco. She was also impatient, he could tell. “Is the girl okay?”

“She is sleeping. I discovered a lot of financial misdeed on his laptop, and also traces of an investigation about Bruce. Not so many proofs but still.”

“Don’t you think it would be simpler to leave him in Arkham? If you want him to become like you and Jerome…”

“No, I want him to owe us everything, if he has to become like us, it must be because of me and Jerome and no one else.”

Her practical mind questioned that, but it was the twins’ artistic side she guessed. Well, Jeremiah would be able to exercise his art on Tabitha. She was chained to a chair and was waking up. Ecco stayed before her and Jeremiah stayed behind at first. Ecco shook her and gently slapped her face to help her regain consciousness. When Tigress realized where she was and what happened she tried to bit Ecco’s hand but the blond retreated right in time.

“I bet you did thought of biting me before, but with nicer motivations.”

“Where is my niece? What did you do with her?”

“You’ll see her soon.”

Oh hell, she was pretty sure they tortured her! Tabitha had been worried about Silver being hurt by Theo but now that threat was far away. She didn’t know exactly where she was, probably a cellar or something, there was no windows but electricity. Her eyes also spotted a little table with some medical stuff. 

“Who do you work for? I know you aren’t your own boss, I know little lap dogs when I see one!”

“I guess it takes one to know one,” Ecco stated with a poker face. “But that question will be answered.”

Tabitha heard slow footsteps and tried to look at whoever was coming. When the person stood before she gaped: it was like a punch in the guts! He looked so much like him but he was so different too…She knew Jerome had a twin, but she never thought he would ever do something like that! She had been told he was a little lamb compared to his brother, Jeremiah Valeska was only a meek scientist! He lowered his face to look at her.

“Hi, miss Galavan. I’m honoured to meet you, and to have a subject such as you.”

Subject? “What the hell are you talking about?! Where is Silver and what are you doing?”

He laughed at this: “You seriously thought my brother would be some employee? You thought he would nicely obey?”

She narrowed her eyes: “So it’s that? You are as crazy as your brother, and you’re on his side. Now I know who I will go for once I’ll be free. I can guarantee you that you will pay for this.”

“Oh, you think your brother will search for you? Or that order of St Dumas, maybe?”

What? This was a shock for her: how the hell did he know about it?! Silver… “I’ll repeat myself: What did you do to my niece?!”

“Well, I made sure she would talk and she did.” Of course he wouldn’t tell her they just had a chat, that he manipulated her smoothly without hurting her, no. The girl could be useful in the future. He would let Tabitha use her imagination instead and continued: “If you want to do what’s best for her, you’ll do something for me.”

“What?”

“Give me your PIN code.”

“Go to hell!”

“Tabitha…Do I need to bring you a few fingers from your niece? She still has all of those, but it can change at any moments.”

She spat at his face and he was startled but simply wiped it away before slapping her hard. “You shouldn’t do anything stupid. You know your problem, Tabitha? You and your brother think you’re the only ones who can fool people. You’re arrogant, and that will lose you.”

“The hell…”

“My brother and I are fooling this city since years, even you fall for it. I bet you never thought that I could do anything against the law. But I did. You thought you could just wave some money at Jerome and have him do whatever he wanted, make him kill Bruce. But you don’t get one thing: my brother will never kill on orders, he will kill because he wants to. And I can tell you that he is starting to like Bruce Wayne a lot. Do you know what he promised him?”

Tabitha didn’t answer, starting to realize that Theo did a mistake indeed. If Valeska had decided to turn against him…Jeremiah smiled and murmured: “Your brother’s head.”

Though she tried not to show anything, she really started to realize the danger: a plot had been organized against them, the Order of St Dumas had been discovered and everything she and her brother did would be destroyed, and now Theo and Silver were both in danger, just like her! Jeremiah stood up:

“You know, it’s too bad that this guy, hum…Peter Tobias? Yeah, it’s the name he has now, it’s too bad that this Bruce Wayne’s clone had escaped you. I mean, if he was found, well…Same with Maria, poor her, she was terrified when we got our hands on her.”

“How?!” This came out by itself. “How did you discover that?”

“We didn’t, Bruce Wayne did. You didn’t think he would just stay nicely in Arkham swallowing pills?” He laughed at this: “Of course not.”

“Maria told me everything,” Ecco stated. “It was a good way to soil the Wayne’s reputation before killing the last one of them. But I must admit she was an easy target, brainwashing her was easy.”

“Too easy. And we appreciate a challenge, don’t we?”

“If you think you’ll be able to brainwash me, you’re dead wrong? I know everything about it.”

“There is only one way to be sure of that,” Jeremiah murmured while Ecco gave him a syringe. “Let’s start with some chemicals. And also a little message, from your niece.”

“I told you that you would see her,” Ecco reminded her. She installed a stool before Tabitha and put a touch screen tablet, and at the same time, Jeremiah lifted Tigress’s sleeve. She tried to struggle and her bound were tight, and in the end, she felt the needle’s sting.

“What are you giving me?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

She was about to yell at him when she heard a familiar voice: “Auntie, please, you have to stop all this.” Silver! That was Silver’s voice! She saw her niece’s face on the screen, she didn’t look hurt, but now she could only see her face. “You must do everything to stop uncle’s projects, you must stop those, and this war against the Waynes has to end. I beg you: stop Theo.”

The message was repeated again. “We put it on a loop. You can close your eyes, but you will still hear her voice.”

“Novice’s methods…”

“Patience, it’s just the beginning.”

She was about to answer something but her mind was starting to get confused and foggy. Damn! What did he give her? All she could do was hear her niece’s voice repeating the message. Jeremiah looked at her and smiled. Breaking Silver would have been no fun at all, but that one would be a delight!

**O o O**

Selina was waiting in an alley, hanging on the fire-escape. She and Alfred had found two possible places, and the man had insisted that he would go and interrogate them alone, in order to have a card in his sleeve in case something was suspicious. She actually wondered whether or not he was trying to protect her, she remembered after all how he hit one of the two guys who had been cat-calling her and all. She hadn’t told him but she had actually been a bit touched that he would help her. Not that she needed to be protected, no! But it was nice to see someone cared a bit.

She saw him coming back eventually. She got down and he summed up everything immediately. “One of the two owners didn’t seem to know him at all, and I’m pretty sure he was too old to have a friend as young as that guy. The other was quite nervous however.”

“Where does he live?”

“Don’t know, I couldn’t ask directly. We’ll have to wait and follow him.”

“Maybe it won’t be necessary, I’ll pay that guy a visit and we’ll see what I can get.”

Alfred showed her the shop, there were other flats above. She entered at first, pretending to be a simple client.

“What kind of knives do you have?”

“A lot, what are you thinking about?”

“Something for defense, a girl should always be prepared.”

“You’ve encountered bad guys?”

“More like creeps. Thank God some other are cute.”

He gave a little flattered huff, thinking it was for him. She flirted a bit with him like that, never going too far because she didn’t want him to be too enthusiastic. He gave her a dirty eye, he was probably around twenty, he wasn’t that old compared to her, but he still gave off old-perverted vibes. He told her how he got the shop from his parents and all, how badass he was at handling it and she eventually heard something really interesting: he lived in that building. She stole a knife while she was at it and eventually pretended he forgot her money to leave.

“He does live in here,” she told Alfred, “if he is that clone’s friend, that’s where he is hiding.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

The owner being at his work, getting in wasn’t that difficult. They entered thanks to the fire-escape and got into the small and dirty living-room. It stung and it was messy, and she could see there was nothing interesting to steal. Didn’t matter, they weren’t here for that. Alfred noticed the awful smell, but soon forgot it when they heard some noises coming from a room. They looked at each other as they advanced. It was coming from the kitchen, it sounded like someone was washing something. Selina took out her knife and Alfred was ready to use his fists. They advanced slowly and saw a young man with their back at them. He had dark hair.

Immediately and with all the stealth he had, Alfred rushed to him, roughly grabbed him and pushed him against the kitchen’s counter. The unknown guy yelped and looked at Alfred with stunned and fearful eyes when the man forcefully turned him round. The older man’s jaw dropped as he saw it.

Bruce. That was his face.

He could see right away this person wasn’t Bruce, but it was just like a twin. His boy’s face on some impostor…Selina was baffled as well, she could have mistaken him for Bruce if she didn’t know the real one was in Arkham. Galavan definitely did everything to bring the real Bruce down!

“You…Who the hell are you?”

The guy suddenly punched and pushed Alfred away, taking advantage of his bafflement.

“HEY!”

Selina’s yell echoed though the kitchen and she tried to grab him but the guy struggled violently and tore himself from her hold before Alfred could come and grab him. He ran toward the fire-escape but the butler suddenly grabbed his jacket before he could pass through the window and Alfred violently threw him down. The guy hit the ground violently and Selina kicked him hard in the ribs as he tried to get up. She put the knife right under his throat and tears started to appear in his eyes, making her snort in spite: he looked like Bruce but he didn’t have his courage. The real one would have kept level-headed and given a defiant look. Alfred closed the window and turned to the guy who was still down and didn’t dare to move.

“Now, you’re going to confess to the police, got it?”

“Please, don’t, they’ll kill me…”

“We will kill you too if you try to run away. The police is your best option,” Alfred threatened.

“I’ll make sure he remains nice while you call them,” Selina growled, still keeping the knife under his neck.

Alfred did take his phone and called Bullock. This time there was no way the man could deny what would be under his eyes. Adrian just cried.

**O o O**

Strange wasn’t here today, and Jonathan was relieved of that. He had been in solitary confinement for the whole day but strangely enough, the man had been lenient for once. Yet he didn’t want to take a chance and cross the man somewhere in the corridors. Of course Marina and Bruce were happy to see him again and she even kissed him before everyone. He allowed her to do so, it was agreeable to kiss someone. Weirdly he wondered what it would have felt like if Bruce had kissed him too. When he explained them why he had been in solitary confinement yesterday, Bruce was obviously guilty.

“I’m sorry it’s all my fault…”

“It’s okay, I should have been more discreet. And it was worth it, for once that I could do something against that fucker!” He looked around worriedly when he said that, still hoping no guards heard.

“Still, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have involved you in my plans.”

“Bruce, considering all the times you stood up for me it’s the least I could do.”

Although it made sense, it couldn’t work that way for Bruce, he had decided to protect his new friend and that’s what he would do.

“It was still dangerous.”

“I’m not that weak you know, I’m not good at fighting and defending myself but I can at least help my friends.”

He realized this could be offensive toward Jonathan; he didn’t like to be treated like a fragile thing either. “Well, I just…”

Suddenly Bruce was interrupted by the loud sound of the alarm. He gaped and everyone’s attention was reported on the ruckus it made. Some lunatics laughed and got agitated while others protested and put their hands on their ears, and some reacted calmly, simply confused.

“What’s going on?” Asked Marina

“I don’t know, maybe someone’s trying to escape?” Jonathan suggested while Marina took his head for reassurance.

Bruce had a really bad feeling about this. The guards ordered them all to go back to their room and Bruce obeyed, watching his surrounding carefully when a voice spoke through the speakers very loudly through the entire asylum.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Good Afternoon, we have an important announcement.”

His stomach churned as he recognized Jerome’s voice. What the hell? Oh God Jerome had a plan to escape! Oh no, he had to stop this!

“This will be a great day today, a day of freedom and fun! Don’t hesitate to disobey orders and go for it! The guards will have a lot of difficulty to hold you back, if only they remain alive! GO FOR IT AND RUN OUT EVERYONE!”

This was enough: one guard suddenly hit another one and yelled: “JEROME RULES!” This was followed by crazy cheers and it all went into chaos. Bruce immediately ran to get Jerome, he knew he was probably in Crane’s office to make this announcement, he had to catch him! He couldn’t stop them all but he had to stop Jerome from escaping! And there would be a phone in the director’s office, he could call the cops from here!

As he was running, pushing everyone who could try to stop him, someone suddenly slammed him against a wall. He yelped and was punched in the guts before feeling a gun against his temple. He saw one guard with a demented smile holding him against the wall;

“You aren’t going anywhere! I’ll bring you to Jerome and you will obey! Come on, walk!”

He was pulled by the arm and at first didn’t resist. He paled and felt a shiver of fear as he saw people in here, not employees, not patients but cultists. He could recognize them anywhere! The guard pulled him closer and smiled to the newcomers: “I’m bringing that one to Jerome, is the way free?”

“All free, dude! Is Jerome gonna have some fun with that one?”

“Probably!”

They laughed and continued their way, and the man looked behind for just a second. It was all Bruce needed. The cultists had already passed before them. His hand flew toward the gun and he pulled the man’s wrist down to disarm him. The guy yelped and Bruce elbowed him hard in the face. They struggled, Bruce refusing to let go of his arm, and the man trying to push him against the wall again. Bruce kicked the back of his shins and roughly pushed before hitting him in the guts. The guy lost balance and the teen ripped the gun away from him before kicking him in the face. It was enough to knock him down.

He ran once more to the first office he could find and called 911 immediately.

“_911, what’s your emergency?_”

“I’m in Arkham Asylum, you must come there is an attack…”

Pain suddenly spread in his jaw s a punch landed against his bone. The phone was ripped from his hands and he was punched again in the stomach. He stumbled a bit and dodged the next blow just in time. It was an old but big man with a demented smile. He went to attack again but Bruce dodged and hit the back of his neck with the side of his hand before kneeing him in the belly. The man lost balance and fell against the closest wall. The teen took occasion and gave him a hard kick in the ribs. As Bruce was about to give one last punch, he suddenly felt a cold barrel against his temple.

He froze and stopped any move immediately.

“Now, now, Bruce! You’re going to follow me like a good boy this time.” Jerome’s voice, sultry and threatening at the same time. Strangely it was almost reassuring.

“What now, Jerome? You’re going to kill me?”

“No. I’ll kill the twink and the pretty doctor! Turn around.”

Bruce paled and turned as Jerome ordered to see Lee and Jonathan held by cultists with guns pointed at their temples. Lee was keeping countenance even though she was scared but Jonathan was breathing hard and trembling. He was terrified of course and he was looking at Bruce pleadingly, and there was no way he could save him without endangering him. He would do as he was told, he had no choices, there was no way he would let Jonathan down. Jerome lowered his own weapon and took Bruce’s neck. “Of course I wasn’t going to kill you, not yet. Now, we’re gonna have some fun outside!”

This time, he couldn’t escape from Jerome, but Jerome would escape from this place. Oh Lord, this was going to be hell!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I must say the song during the dance scene is California by Mylene Farmer. I had to put it in the fic, because it's that song which inspired me that scene and this whole fic. Here is the link if you want to listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW8N9_Nyfyc
> 
> Don't hesitate to review!


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